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The mega-comet hurtling through our solar system is 85, yes 85, miles wide

A gargantuan space rock.

"It's huge," marveled Samantha Lawler, an astronomer at the University of Regina who researches deep objects in our solar system. Just looking at its brightness (meaning how much sunlight is reflecting off) won't cut it, explained Emmanuel Lellouch, an astronomer at the Observatoire de Paris and one of the study's authors. As the comet approaches the sun over the coming decade, Lellouch noted that astronomers will observe the dust and gases on this giant, ancient, preserved chunk of ice and rock.

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