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yesterday

Global Telescopes Sharpen View of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Observatories from Hawaii to Ladakh have captured detailed images plus spectra, refining its nucleus size, orbital path, age ahead of an October solar pass.

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A sequence of images from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope shows 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar object, as it moves across the sky. The comet was discovered in early July and is now being tracked by major observatories worldwide. Credit: ESO | CC BY 4.0

Overview

  • 3I/ATLAS’s hyperbolic orbit, with an eccentricity of about 6.2, confirms its interstellar origin and sets it apart from solar system comets.
  • Gemini North’s Multi-Object Spectrograph and high-altitude facilities in Hanle have imaged a compact coma enveloping a roughly 12-mile (20-kilometer) nucleus.
  • Preliminary analyses place its origin in the Milky Way’s thick disk and estimate its age between 3 and 11 billion years, potentially predating the Solar System.
  • The comet will reach perihelion at about 1.4 astronomical units on October 30 and make its closest Earth approach at 1.8 astronomical units on December 19 without posing a hazard.
  • Its size and brightness offer a rare opportunity to study primitive interstellar material and will inform detection strategies for future surveys and missions such as the Rubin Observatory’s LSST and ESA/JAXA’s Comet Interceptor.