The discovery that 3I\/ATLAS is making a short journey into and out of our solar system has sparked an urgency to get a closer look at an object that could soon vanish from our sights.<\/p>\n
An interstellar visitor to our solar system known as 3I\/ATLAS<\/a> has captivated the public for months, and it’s not hard to see why.<\/p>\n For one, it’s incredibly rare for any kind of space object<\/a> originating from a star that’s not our sun<\/a> to be spotted visiting Earth’s cosmic<\/a> neighborhood. And for another, such an uncommon event has given way to plenty of wild theories about just what the object could be \u2013 including an infamous one postulating that\u00a0it could be an alien spaceship<\/a>.<\/p>\n But for scientists around the world, the discovery that 3I\/ATLAS is making a short journey into and out of our solar system has sparked an urgency to get a closer look at an object<\/a> that could soon vanish from our sights. Early on, astronomers were able to determine with a high degree of certainty that the object is a comet, but work has continued to get a better idea of its size and phyisical characteristics.<\/p>\n Need a refresher about 3I\/ATLAS? Here’s everything to know about the interstellar object, including when the latest observations will be made.<\/p>\n What is the comet 3I\/ATLAS?<\/p>\n A comet known as 3I\/ATLAS<\/a> made news in July when it was confirmed to have originated outside Earth’s solar system<\/a>.<\/p>\n When it was discovered, the interstellar comet was whizzing at about 137,000 miles per hour, though it’s expected to only pick up speed as it continues its journey toward the sun.<\/p>\n The observation was\u00a0reported to the\u00a0Minor Planet Center<\/a>, the official authority for\u00a0observing and reporting new asteroids<\/a>, comets and other small bodies in the solar system. The object, eventually confirmed to almost certainly be a comet and named 3I\/ATLAS, was later confirmed to have interstellar origins after follow-up observations.<\/p>\n How did 3I\/ATLAS get its name?<\/p>\n Simple. The object is named for its status as one of three interstellar interlopers ever discovered in our cosmic neighborhood, as well as the telescope that spotted it.<\/p>\n Comet Oumuamua, Hawaiian for \u201cscout\u201d or \u201cmessenger,\u201d\u00a0became the first interstellar object ever detected in the solar system<\/a> in 2017, followed by the comet\u00a0Borisov<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n As for “ATLAS,” that portion of the name is derived from the telescope credited with the find. The telescope in Chile \u2013 part of the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS \u2013 was the first to spot what initially looked like an unknown asteroid on a path approaching Earth\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n Webb, Hubble among telescopes to study interstellar visitor<\/p>\n Unlike comets bound to the sun’s gravity, 3I\/ATLAS is traveling on a hyperbolic orbit that will eventually carry it out of the solar system and back into interstellar space. That’s why, even though the comet poses no threat to Earth, the world’s astronomers and space agencies are\u00a0racing to study planetary material\u00a0that formed from another star.<\/p>\n A fleet of NASA space telescopes have already been returning plenty of images and data back to Earth gathered from glimpsing the comet.<\/p>\n NASA’s\u00a0iconic Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>\u00a0previously\u00a0got a look at the comet in July<\/a>, collecting data that allowed astronomers to\u00a0estimate the size<\/a>\u00a0of the comet\u2019s solid, icy nucleus as anywhere from 1,000 feet to 3.5 miles wide.<\/p>\n The James Webb Space Telescope<\/a> then\u00a0observed<\/a>\u00a0the interstellar object Aug. 6 in\u00a0near-infrared light<\/a>, followed by the newer SPHEREx telescope\u00a0from Aug. 7-Aug. 15<\/a>, to get a better idea of its physical properties and chemical makeup.<\/p>\n More recently, a ground telescope in Chile glimpsed the comet’s glowing tail, which observations reveal has steadily been growing as it cruises toward the sun. The Gemini South telescope in Chile<\/a>, operated by the National Space Foundation\u2019s NoirLab, collected observations showing that \u00a03I\/ATLAS displays prominent tail and a broad\u00a0coma, or a cloud of gas and dust that forms around the comet\u2019s icy nucleus as it gets closer to the sun.<\/p>\n Mars, Jupiter missions will be next to observe comet<\/p>\n As of now, the comet is on the opposite side of the sun from Earth, making it impossible to observe from the ground.<\/p>\n But orbiters around our celestial neighbors Mars<\/a> and Jupiter<\/a> will have an opportunity soon to get a look at the object, according to the European Space Agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two Mars orbiters \u2013 Mars Express<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ExoMars<\/a> Trace Gas Orbiter\u00a0\u2013 will be able to observe 3I\/ATLAS until Oct. 7, with the closest distance coming Friday, Oct. 3, when the comet comes within about 18,600 miles of the Red Planet.<\/p>\n Then between Nov. 2-25, ESA\u2019s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice<\/a>) will observe the comet with its instruments when the object is expected to be in a “very active state” following its closest approach to the sun.<\/p>\n The object will reappear in December on the other side of the sun, making it visible once again from Earth.<\/p>\n How close will 3I\/ATLAS get to Earth?<\/p>\n The closest 3I\/ATLAS will approach Earth is about 170 million miles, according to NASA.<\/p>\n The object will instead pass a little closer to the sun, coming within 130 million miles on Oct. 30. For reference, the sun is about 93 million miles away from Earth.<\/p>\n Is 3I\/ATLAS an alien spaceship?<\/p>\n Not all researchers have been convinced that 3I\/ATLAS is a comet.<\/p>\n Avi Loeb<\/a>, an astrophysicist from Harvard University, authored a paper with two others \u2013 uploaded July 16 to the preprint server\u00a0arXiv<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 speculating about whether the object could be “hostile” alien technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n Loeb has long had a preoccupation with extraterrestrials \u2013 even co-founding\u00a0the Galileo Project<\/a>, a research program at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics dedicated to the search for alien life. But while Loeb has often encouraged scientists to\u00a0have an open mind about extraterrestrials<\/a>, his theories and research have often rankled other astrophysicists in the field, who push back on some of his bolder claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n For instance, when\u00a0the first interstellar object ever detected in our solar system<\/a>\u00a0was spotted in 2017, Loeb\u00a0similarly posited<\/a>\u00a0that it was of extraterrestrial origin \u2013 a theory later debunked.<\/p>\n Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The discovery that 3I\/ATLAS is making a short journey into and out of our solar system has sparked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[78434,78429,1813,78430,8681,74670,16043,78432,15870,13731,125,78435,15863,15874,15887,78431,78433,15707,29447,28746,10559,1815,78436,15872,8929,15884,395,34887,5140,5156,92,710,15886,5144,52462,15862,15877,5143,5157,2383,3726,5139,90,15875,416,15883,7794,15878,5141,10753,1777,1850,5155,47,15873,15871,15885,56,54,55,15864,7709,22828,4667],"class_list":{"0":"post-175741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-oumuamua-celestial-body","9":"tag-celestial","10":"tag-astronomy","11":"tag-bodies","12":"tag-body","13":"tag-borisov","14":"tag-comets","15":"tag-comets-celestial-bodies","16":"tag-connect","17":"tag-content","18":"tag-earth","19":"tag-earth-planet","20":"tag-exploration","21":"tag-fl","22":"tag-fl-content-sharing-space","23":"tag-gennady","24":"tag-gennady-borisov","25":"tag-hubble","26":"tag-hubble-telescope","27":"tag-james","28":"tag-james-webb-space-telescope","29":"tag-jupiter","30":"tag-jupiter-planet","31":"tag-know","32":"tag-local","33":"tag-local-connect","34":"tag-mars","35":"tag-mars-planet","36":"tag-modular","37":"tag-modular-story","38":"tag-nasa","39":"tag-network","40":"tag-network-trending","41":"tag-neutral","42":"tag-oumuamua","43":"tag-outer","44":"tag-outer-space","45":"tag-overall","46":"tag-overall-neutral","47":"tag-planet","48":"tag-planets","49":"tag-point","50":"tag-science","51":"tag-sharing","52":"tag-space","53":"tag-space-connect","54":"tag-space-exploration","55":"tag-space-exploration-vehicles","56":"tag-story","57":"tag-telescope","58":"tag-the","59":"tag-to","60":"tag-to-the-point","61":"tag-top-stories","62":"tag-trending","63":"tag-ttp","64":"tag-ttp-what-we-know","65":"tag-uk","66":"tag-united-kingdom","67":"tag-unitedkingdom","68":"tag-vehicles","69":"tag-we","70":"tag-webb","71":"tag-what"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}