NASA captures stunning close-ups of interstellar comet 3I/Atlas - PHOTOS
NASA unveiled detailed close-up images on Wednesday of the interstellar comet 3I/Atlas, which is making a brief, one-time visit through our solar system.
Discovered over the summer, 3I/Atlas is only the third confirmed object known to originate from beyond our solar system, News.Az reports, citing AP.
The comet passed harmlessly near Mars last month, coming within 18 million miles (29 million kilometers). Multiple NASA spacecraft in orbit around and near the red planet captured close observations, and the European Space Agency’s Mars satellites also contributed data.
Astronomers on Earth are tracking the comet as well. The Virtual Telescope Project’s Gianluca Masi in Italy captured images on Wednesday, while other ground-based observatories continue monitoring its approach. Currently, 3I/Atlas is about 190 million miles (307 million kilometers) from Earth.
The comet will make its closest approach to our planet in mid-December at 167 million miles (269 million kilometers) before speeding back into interstellar space, never to return.
Named for the telescope in Chile that first spotted it, the comet is believed to be anywhere from 1,444 feet (440 meters) across to 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) across.
The European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft, bound for Jupiter, has been training its cameras and scientific instruments on the comet all month, particularly after it made its closest pass to the sun. But scientists won’t get any of these observations back until February because Juice’s main antenna is serving as a heat shield while it’s near the sun, limiting the flow of data.
The comet is visible from Earth in the predawn sky by using binoculars or a telescope.
Photo: NASA
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