Astronomers Track Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
3i / Atlas is only the third object of this type never observed, following the interstellar asteroid 1i / ʻoumuamua in 2017 and the Interstellar Comet 2i / Borisov in 2019.
The 3i / Atlas discovery image of the Atlas telescope. Image credit: University of Hawai’i.
3i / Atlas is currently about 670 million kilometers (420 million miles) of the sun and will make its closest approach in October 2025, passing just inside the Mars orbit.
It is believed that it has a diameter up to 20 km (12 miles) and travels around 60 km per second (37 miles per second) compared to the sun.
It represents no danger for the earth, not approaching 240 million kilometers (150 million miles) – more than 1.5 times the distance between the earth and the sun.
3i / Atlas is an active comet; If he warms sufficiently as he approaches the sun, he could start to sublimate – a process in which the frozen gases transform directly into vapor, transporting dust and ice particles in space to form a shiny coma and tail.
However, when the comet reaches her point closest to the earth, he will be hidden behind the sun. He should reappear in early December 2025, offering astronomers another study window.
“Identifying a possible interstellar object is incredibly rare, and it is exciting that our asteroid telescope on the latest alert system (Atlas) of the asteroid,” said Professor John Tonry, astronomer of the University of Hawai’i.
“These interstellar visitors offer an extremely interesting overview of solar systems other than ours.”
“A good number come compared to our inner solar system each year, although 3i / Atlas is by far the biggest to date.”
“The chances of really hitting the earth are infinitesimal, less than 1 in 10 million per year, but Atlas is continuously looking for in the sky for any object that could be a problem.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D-NQD1UWVY
Astronomers use telescopes in Hawaii, Chile and other countries to monitor comet’s progress.
They want to know more about the composition and behavior of this interstellar visitor.
“What makes interstellar objects like 3i / Atlas so extraordinary is their absolutely foreign nature,” said ESA astronomers in a press release.
“While each planet, moon, asteroid, comet and life form formed in our solar system shares a common origin, a common heritage, interstellar visitors are real foreigners.”
“These are vestiges of other planetary systems, carrying with them indices on the formation of worlds far beyond ours.”
“There may be thousands of years until humans visit a planet in another solar system and interstellar comets offer us an attractive opportunity to reach something really another world.”
“These frozen vagrants offer a rare and tangible link with the wider galaxy – to materials formed in entirely different environments.”
“Visit it, it would be to connect humanity with the universe on a much larger scale.”
