{"id":356652,"date":"2025-12-20T01:19:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T01:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/356652\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T01:19:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T01:19:14","slug":"comet-3i-atlas-heads-past-earth-back-into-deep-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/356652\/","title":{"rendered":"Comet 3I\/ATLAS heads past Earth back into deep space"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dec. 19 (UPI) &#8212; Comet 3I\/ATLAS passed its nearest point to Earth early Friday and approaching within 168 million miles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">After its brief visit Friday the interstellar object 3I\/ATLAS will head back toward the outer solar system before continuing its journey through the Milky Way, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/astronomy\/comets\/interstellar-comet-3iatlas-heads-for-the-outer-solar-system-after-its-closest-approach-to-earth\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:according to;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">according to<\/a> scientists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">3I\/ATLAS was only the third known interstellar object to enter our solar system, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Science_News\/2020\/04\/13\/Tidal-fragmentation-explains-formation-ejection-of-Oumuamua\/9481586790031\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:following &#039;Oumuamua in;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">following &#8216;Oumuamua in<\/a> 2017 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Science_News\/2020\/04\/20\/ALMA-observations-reveal-unusual-composition-of-intestellar-comet-2IBorisov\/5411587402861\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:and Borisov in;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">and Borisov in<\/a> 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Its arrival gave scientists a rare chance to study the building blocks of distant comets and planets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">NASA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Science_News\/2025\/08\/27\/NASA-james-webb-space-telescope-observes-interstellar-comet-3IATLAS\/7971756300170\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:first detected the object in;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">first detected the object in<\/a> July, tracing its path back beyond our solar system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Astronomers were unsure of 3I\/ATLAS&#8217;s exact size, but estimates by the European Space Agency place it between a few hundred feet and several miles wide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Meanwhile, Hubble <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2025\/12\/19\/3iatlas-earth-approach-watch\/87810206007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:data suggests the;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">data suggests the<\/a> comet&#8217;s icy nucleus measures roughly 1,400 feet to 3.5 miles across.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Its trajectory indicated the comet supposedly originated in an ancient region of the Milky Way far older than the 4.6\u2011billion\u2011year\u2011old solar system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Comet 3I\/ATLAS surprised astronomers by shining brighter than expected as it neared its closest approach to the Sun at the end of October.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The theorized comet, which is rich in water, appears to come from the Milky Way&#8217;s older thick disk rather than the sun&#8217;s younger thin disk suggesting 3I\/ATLAS may be as old as 7 billion years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It neared the end of its journey through the solar system, its data will continue to help scientists refine our understanding of the Milky Way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Researchers Qicheng Zhang of Lowell Observatory and Karl Battams of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory noted in a paper that 3I&#8217;s unusually rapid brightening was unexplained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The reason for 3I&#8217;s rapid brightening, which far exceeds the brightening rate of most Oort cloud comets at similar [radial distance], remains unclear,&#8221; they wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dec. 19 (UPI) &#8212; Comet 3I\/ATLAS passed its nearest point to Earth early Friday and approaching within 168&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,1599,307,154152,66,308],"class_list":["post-356652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-interstellar-object","tag-nasa","tag-nearest-point","tag-science","tag-solar-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}