Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will fly by Earth Friday. Here are the latest images

An interstellar comet first seen passing through our solar system in July is beginning its departure from our corner of the universe – but it will fly past Earth first and scientists are capturing stunning new images as it approaches.

Known as 3I/ATLAS, the comet will pass closest to us on Friday, being about 167 million miles (270 million kilometers) from our planet, but on the far side of the sun. For reference, the distance between the Sun and Earth is approximately 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).

Comet 3I/ATLAS will not be visible to the naked eye and the optimal observation window, opened in November, has been exceeded. Those hoping to catch a glimpse of it will need a telescope of 8 inches (20 centimeters) or larger, according to EarthSky.

The Virtual Telescope Project will share a live stream of the comet Friday at 4 a.m. UTC or Thursday at 11 p.m. ET. In case of cloudy weather, the webcast will be delayed by 24 hours, said Gianluca Masi, an astronomer and astrophysicist at the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Italy and founder and scientific director of the virtual telescope project.

The comet is expected to remain visible to telescopes and space missions for a few more months before leaving our solar system, according to NASA.

Astronomers have closely followed the comet since its initial discovery over the summer in hopes of discovering details about its origin outside of our solar system as well as its composition. Several missions have observed the object in optical, infrared and radio wavelengths – and recently, scientists captured their first X-ray glimpses and discovered new details.

X-raying an interstellar visitor

Comets native to our solar system emit X-rays, but astronomers have long wondered whether interstellar comets behave the same way.

Although previous attempts were made when two other interstellar comets passed through our solar system in 2017 and 2019, no X-rays were detected.

But everything changed with 3I/ATLAS.

Japan’s X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM, observed 3I/ATLAS for 17 hours in late November with its Xtend telescope. The instrument captured X-rays propagating up to a distance of 400,000 kilometers from the comet’s solid core, which could be the result of gas clouds around the object, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. But additional observations are needed to confirm this discovery.

The X-rays can come from interactions between gases emitted by the comet – such as water vapor, carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide – and the continuous stream of charged particles emitted by the sun called solar wind. Comets, which are a combination of ice, rock, dust and gas, heat up as they approach stars like the sun, causing them to sublimate the materials. XRISM detected signatures of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen near the comet’s nucleus.

The European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-ray space observatory also observed the interstellar comet on Dec. 3 for about 20 hours using its most sensitive camera. A spectacular image released by the agency shows the comet’s red X-ray glow.

The X-ray observations, combined with others at different wavelengths of light, could reveal what the comet is made of – and how similar or different the object is to those in our own solar system.

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