{"id":228242,"date":"2025-10-27T13:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T13:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/228242\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T13:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T13:48:10","slug":"alien-comet-3i-atlas-set-to-stun-earth-with-closest-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/228242\/","title":{"rendered":"Alien comet 3I\/ATLAS set to stun Earth with closest approach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fact File: Interstellar Comet 3I\/ATLAS<\/p>\n<p>Type: Interstellar comet (third confirmed visitor from beyond our solar system)<br \/>Origin: Likely ejected from a distant star system millions of years ago<br \/>Path: &#8220;Hyperbolic&#8221; trajectory \u2014 one-time pass through the solar system<br \/>Nucleus size: Estimated to be under 1 km wide<br \/>Composition: Rich in carbon dioxide, cyanide, and atomic nickel vapor<br \/>Tail activity: Massive jet observed pointing toward the Sun in August 2025<\/p>\n<p>Current brightness (magnitude): 12\u201314 \u2014 far too dim for the naked eye<\/p>\n<p>Viewing requirements: Telescope with at least an 8-inch (200mm) aperture under dark skies<\/p>\n<p>Current status: Unobservable from Earth due to solar conjunction<\/p>\n<p>Next viewing window: Expected to reappear in early December 2025<\/p>\n<p>Closest approach to Earth: 1.8 astronomical units (about 167 million miles)<\/p>\n<p>Perihelion (closest to the Sun): October 29\u201330, 2025 \u2014 slightly inside Mars\u2019 orbit<\/p>\n<p>Threat level: Zero \u2014 the comet poses no danger to Earth<\/p>\n<p>Fun Fact <br \/>When it swings by the Sun, 3I\/ATLAS will flare up dramatically as its ices vaporise, giving astronomers a rare peek at how alien comets behave when they heat up near our star.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fact File: Interstellar Comet 3I\/ATLAS Type: Interstellar comet (third confirmed visitor from beyond our solar system)Origin: Likely ejected&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-228242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228242","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=228242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}