A newly found interstellar comet poses absolutely no threat to Earth, but a NASA-coordinated group plans to observe it to help our ability to monitor any future objects that might prove to be hazardous.<\/p>\n
The comet<\/a>, called 3I\/ATLAS, is the third known interstellar object<\/a> that has come through our solar system<\/a>. As it flies deeper into the solar system before leaving our cosmic neighborhood some time between Nov. 27, 2025 and Jan. 27, 2026, the International Asteroid Warning Network is kicking off a campaign to observe the comet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The project will serve as a training ground to not only predict the orbit of 3I\/ATLAS, but to perform astrometric measurements (meaning, tracking the comet’s speed and motion in Earth’s sky, relative to objects like stars<\/a>.) This will be used to inform future observations of comets or asteroids<\/a> that may be a threat to Earth.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n The network notes that comets are especially hard to observe, because their tails and “atmospheres” (comas) make it difficult to estimate overall brightness \u2014 which in turn affects pathway predictions.<\/p>\n Knowing the pathway of an object allows astronomers to predict how close it will come to Earth<\/a>. In this case, 3I\/ATLAS is coming nowhere near us. But its relative proximity (roughly 1.8 astronomical units, or sun-Earth distances, at its closest) is good enough for observations by small telescopes.<\/p>\n “The campaign will target comet 3I\/ATLAS (C\/2025 N1) to exercise the capability of the observing community to extract accurate astrometry,” read a notice of the project<\/a> Tuesday (Oct. 21) at the Minor Planet Center, which is a branch of the International Astronomical Union that catalogs and tracks small objects in space.<\/p>\n Citizen scientists are welcome to join in. If you’re interested, register at this link<\/a> no later than Nov. 7\u2014as the notice provides no time of day, we recommend registering as soon as feasible. The schedule includes a workshop on Nov. 10, and periodic teleconferences through and after the observing period.<\/p>\n The International Asteroid Warning Network calls itself<\/a> a “worldwide collaboration of asteroid astronomers and modelers” and was formed following recommendations from the United Nations and its space mission planning advisory group “for an international response to the near-Earth object (NEO) impact threat.”<\/p>\n NASA<\/a>, like other parts of the U.S. government, is allowed to perform essential duties despite the ongoing government shutdown. Comet and asteroid observations are considered a priority item as there is a small chance one could pose a threat to Earth, so NASA continues to track and publish information about them<\/a>.<\/p>\n