\n Stargazers using telescopes should be able to see the object in the predawn sky beginning November 11, according to EarthSky.\n <\/p>\n
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\n Astronomers will have a few more months to observe the comet before it begins heading out of our solar system, Seligman said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The comet will make its closest approach of Earth on December 19, coming within about 168 million miles (270 million kilometers) \u2014 but it poses no threat to our planet, according to the European Space Agency<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Astronomers have been observing the comet, only the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system, since its discovery on July 1.\n <\/p>\n \n Each observation is shedding light on this interstellar object and how different it may be from comets that originated in our solar system.\n <\/p>\n \n Comets are like dirty snowballs left over from the formation of solar systems.\n <\/p>\n \n A comet\u2019s nucleus is its solid core, made of ice, dust and rocks. When comets travel near stars such as the sun, heat causes them to release gas and dust, which creates their signature tails.\n <\/p>\n \n Astronomers are interested in capturing as many observations of the comet as they can because as it nears the sun, material releasing from the object could reveal more about its composition \u2014 and the star system where it originated.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen it gets closest to the sun, you get the most holistic view of the nucleus possible,\u201d Seligman said. \u201cOne of the main things driving most cometary scientists is, what is the composition of the volatiles? It shows you the initial primordial material that it formed from.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Scientists have used powerful tools, such as the Hubble Space and James Webb Space telescopes, along with a multitude of space-based missions, such as SPHEREx<\/a>, to study the comet.\n <\/p>\n \n The SPHEREx and Webb observations detected carbon dioxide, water, carbon monoxide, carbonyl sulphide<\/a> and water ice releasing from the comet as it neared the sun, according to the ESA.\n <\/p>\n \n Preliminary estimates indicate that the interstellar comet is 3 billion to 11 billion years old, according to a study<\/a> coauthored by Seligman and Aster Taylor, a doctoral student and Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellow at the University of Michigan, in August. For reference, our solar system is estimated to be about 4.6 billion years old.\n <\/p>\n \n Carbon dioxide turns directly from a solid into a gas in response to temperature changes much more easily than most elements \u2014 which means the comet has likely never been close to another star before its brush with the sun, Seligman said.\n <\/p>\n \n The interstellar comet faded from the view of ground-based telescopes in October, but it remained in sight for missions such as PUNCH<\/a>, or Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, and SOHO<\/a>, or the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The object also made its closest approach of Mars on October 3, coming within 18.6 million miles (30 million kilometers) of the red planet \u2014 and the spacecraft orbiting it.\n <\/p>\n \n While the government shutdown has prevented data sharing from any NASA missions that have observed the comet since October 1, the ESA\u2019s Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter attempted to capture views of 3I\/ATLAS in October.\n <\/p>\n \n The cameras aboard those missions are designed to study the relatively close, bright surface of Mars, but ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter managed to observe the comet as a fuzzy white dot.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis was a very challenging observation for the instrument,\u201d Nick Thomas, principal investigator of the orbiter\u2019s camera, said in a statement, noting the comet is around 10,000 to 100,000 times \u201cfainter than our usual target.\u201d\n <\/p>\n![\"Hubble](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/stsci-01k1x6xdr76zd4fyj9vtwn1erb.jpg\")
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