67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

space · comets · solar system

A wandering ice ball. 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a comet about 4.3 by 4.1 kilometers across, which is roughly the size of a small mountain floating in space. It originally came from the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune filled with icy bodies.

Named after discoverers. Two Soviet astronomers, Klim Ivanovych Churyumov and Svetlana Ivanovna Gerasimenko, first spotted this comet on photographic plates in 1969. The comet was named in their honor because they found it.

Speedy space traveler. This comet races around the sun at a maximum speed of 135,000 kilometers per hour and completes one full orbit every 6.45 years. It spins on its axis about once every 12.4 hours, similar to how Earth rotates but much faster.

Predictable visits. The comet came closest to the sun most recently on November 2, 2021, and will return to that closest point again on April 9, 2028. Astronomers can predict exactly when comets like this will visit because their orbits follow mathematical patterns.