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1h ago

Virtual Telescope to Livestream Interstellar Visitor 3I/ATLAS Tonight

Planetary scientists point to cometary outgassing supported by multi-instrument data, with more observations planned.

ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter was repurposed to monitor 3I/ATLAS during in Mars flyby on Oct. 3. The spacecraft performed well, even though it was not designed to perform tasks like this.
Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb is still not giving up hope that 3I/ATLAS could be an alien mothership and says it's too early to call it.
Elements of this image furnished by NASA.
Image

Overview

  • Streaming begins at 11:15 p.m. ET on the Virtual Telescope Project’s YouTube channel, using telescopes in Manciano, Italy to track the object as it moves through Virgo.
  • Organizers note the object is around magnitude +10.9, so real-time views require telescopes and cannot be seen with the naked eye.
  • NASA is expected to release high-resolution Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE images taken in early October, according to media reports citing an agency source, though no formal date has been announced.
  • 3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed interstellar object and shows a coma, dust tail, and small non-gravitational accelerations consistent with outgassing, with Hubble, JWST and China’s Tianwen‑1 contributing data pointing to a volatile-rich, CO2‑dominated coma.
  • Public figures including Elon Musk and Avi Loeb have floated artificial-origin speculation, but researchers such as JPL’s Slava Turyshev describe the observations as compatible with a natural comet, with a safe closest approach expected in December.