Interstellar comet keeps its distance as it makes its closest approach to Earth
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — A wandering comet from another star flies by Earth this week in one last hurray before heading back toward interstellar space.
Discovered over the summer, the comet known as 3I/Atlas will pass 167 million miles (269 million kilometers) from our planet on Friday, as close as possible during its grand tour of the solar system.
NASA continues to point its space telescopes toward the visiting ice ball, which is estimated to be between 1,444 feet (440 meters) and 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) in size. But it fades as it disappears, so it’s time for astronomers to observe it in the night sky with their telescopes.
The comet will come much closer to Jupiter in March, traveling a radius of 53 million kilometers. It will be until the mid-2030s before it reaches interstellar space, never to return, said Paul Chodas, director of NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies.
It is the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system. Interstellar comets like 3I/Atlas come from star systems elsewhere in the Milky Way, while local comets like Halley come from the icy fringes of our solar system.
A telescope in Hawaii discovered the first confirmed interstellar visitor in 2017. Two years later, an interstellar comet was spotted by an amateur astronomer in Crimea. NASA’s Atlas Telescope in Chile spotted Comet 3I/Atlas in July while searching for potentially hazardous asteroids.
Scientists believe that the latest rogue comet, also harmless, could come from a star system much older than ours, which would make it a tempting target.
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