by Anura Guruge
on January 28, 2023
It might have, BUT we CANNOT in any way be sure.
To claim that it visited 50,000 years ago is pure speculation — sensationalism & IGNORANCE on the part of the media.
Yes, it currently has an estimated orbital period of ~50,000 years. But, if you check Wikipedia or any other semi-reliable source you will find that this is CLEARLY marked — INBOUND.
We ONLY know that it currently has an estimated orbital period of ~50,000 based on what we have seen so far of its orbit.
There is no guarantee, whatsoever, that it has made this trip before.
Most of these non-periodic comets (as designated by the “C/” at the front of its official name) are SINGLE-APPARITION comets or 1st time comets. In other words, they haven’t made this trip, i.e., enter the inner solar system to go around the Sun.
Yes, these comets are likely to have existed since the time the Solar System came to be 4.5 billion years ago. But, that doesn’t mean that they started whizzing around on the orbital paths that bring them this close to the sun as of that time. They tend to stay in a far, far out circular obit way out there in the ‘Oort Cloud‘.
So, don’t just buy into this 50,000 year claim. We just don’t know. It is sheer speculation.
Oh, we also can’t be sure it will be back in 50,000 years!
