The UN’s International Asteroid Warning Network is closely watching comet 3I/ATLAS. Here’s why.
Like the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS prepares for its closest approach to Earth on December 19, it is being monitored not only by space agencies but also by the United Nations.
The comet, which will be about 270 million miles from our planet, will be tracked by telescopes around the world so astronomers can pinpoint its location and make predictions about future objects like it.
Follow “a comet’s comet”
IAWN had been planning an observing campaign of this type since October 2024, so 3I/ATLAS was a late but fortuitous arrival when it was set up. spotted for the first time end of June. The interstellar comet’s upcoming close approach coincides well with the team’s planned observing schedule, and since 3I/ATLAS was visible at the network’s observatories and of great interest, it seemed like a great fit, Bauer said.
There are challenges to accurately measuring a comet’s position, he noted, as the change in brightness and the variability of its coma, the cloud of gas and dust that expands around the comet’s core and tail as it approaches the sun and heats up. These features can inflate the apparent size of the comet and make its location more difficult to pinpoint.
Fortunately, although 3I/ATLAS originated outside the solar system, it exhibits such classic comet behavior that it is almost a “comet’s comet,” Bauer said. For example, it includes components like water and carbon dioxide which behave in the same way as normal comets in the solar system.
Community interest has been high. Citizen scientists, observatories of all sizes, and scientific organizations trained a record 171 campaign participants at the launch of IAWN’s 3I/ATLAS Campaign Meeting in October. The mid-campaign teleconference, held on December 9 and a few days before Bauer’s interview with Live Science, was attended by 100 campaign participants.
“We answered questions from the community, for example: ‘How do I use the tool? What is the appropriate format for observing or reporting observations?,” Bauer said.
He said he is grateful for the community’s time and interest because it helps astronomers refine their ability to report the position of objects in the sky, including “watchfulness” for other near-Earth asteroids and objects that come much closer to our planet.
