Astronomers recently rejoiced after witnessing a bizarre volcanic comet erupt like a "Champagne bottle," spraying gas and ice through the solar system like sparkling wine. The unusual explosion was a cause for celebration because, for the first time, the researchers successfully predicted it was going to happen.
The volatile comet, known as 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (29P), is around 37 miles (60 kilometers) wide and takes around 14.9 years to orbit the sun. As well as being volcanic, 29P has an unusually circular orbit for a comet and rotates much more slowly than expected. It is one of around 100 comets, known as "centaurs," that have been pushed from the Kuiper Belt — a ring of icy comets that lurk beyond Neptune — into a closer orbit around the sun nearer Jupiter.
