PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA — An enormous comet from the outskirts of the solar system is heading towards Earth. Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is a thousand times larger than the average comet and it's approaching at a high rate of speed. Here are the details:<br /><br />Live Science reports that a huge comet that's so large it's classified as a "minor planet" has been spotted beyond Uranus and is coming toward Earth for a very rare visit in 2031. <br /><br />Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is still far away and hard to see, but the current estimate is that its icy core is around 100 kilometers in diameter, which is extremely large for a comet. <br /><br />It'll make its closest approach in 2031, when it'll sail just outside of the orbit of our sun's sixth planet, Saturn. <br /><br />Normal long-period comets take more than 200 years to complete an orbit around the Sun, but this one is estimated to take a whopping 5.5 million years to complete its orbit. <br /><br />Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein comes from the Oort Cloud, a spherical cloud of icy objects framing our solar system at around 50,000 to 100,000 Astronomical Units from the Sun, that's 100,000 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. <br /><br />Scientists estimate this comet could itself be from as far away as 60,000 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. <br /><br />Like all comets, this one will round the Sun and head off back to where it came from.<br /><br />Another comet that might have originated in the mysterious Oort Cloud is Halley's Comet, which is visible from Earth every 75 years. <br /><br />Halley is therefore the only naked-eye comet that can appear twice in a human lifetime. It last appeared over Earth in 1986, when it stood out clearly in the night sky. It will next appear in 2061.
