Astrological Meanderings: \(\text{C}/2014 \text{ UN}_{271} \) (Bernardinelli-Bernstein)

Monday 28 June 2021

\(\text{C}/2014 \text{ UN}_{271} \) (Bernardinelli-Bernstein)

On June 21st 2021, Anton Petrov posted a video on his YouTube channel titled Woah! Giant Comet/Minor Planet Is Approaching From Oort Cloud


It has an extremely elliptical orbit with a period of millions of years but within ten years this object will pass near the orbit of Saturn. It is already within the orbit of Neptune. It is a sizeable object, over a hundred kilometres in diameter, and may even qualify as a dwarf planet. 

There is further information in this article from which I'll quote the opening paragraphs:
Astronomers sifting through data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) have spotted a large Oort Cloud object approaching the outer regions of the solar system.

The discovery has caused ripples of excitement within the planetary science community because of the object’s unusually large size – initial estimates suggest it may be as big as 130–160 km across, substantially bigger than some of the largest comets. Studying the object could also give researchers insights into an enigmatic process in the solar system.

Catalogued as C/2014 UN271, the wandering visitor was found in archival data captured by the DES project, which investigates the cosmological mystery of dark energy by photographing distant galaxies. 

There is more information on Wikipedia:

C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein), or simply 2014 UN271, is a large Oort cloud comet discovered by astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein in archival images from the Dark Energy Survey. When first imaged in October 2014, the object was 29 AU (4.3 billion km) from the Sun and almost as far as Neptune's orbit. As of 2021, it is currently approaching the Sun at a distance of 20.2 AU (3.0 billion km) and will reach its perihelion of 10.9 AU (just outside of Saturn's orbit) in January 2031.

So far, there is nothing I can find in the astrological literature about it but I'll keep an eye out for some information. I guess its point of perihelion, reached in January of 2031, will be the most significant point. It certainly needs a more catchy name.

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