New comet is third interstellar object in solar system
According to US space agency NASA, the interloper - named 3I/ATLAS - was first spotted on Tuesday by an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, telescope located in Rio Hurtado, Chile. Astronomers said its unusual trajectory indicated it had ventured from beyond our solar system.
Journeying at a speed of around 60km per second from the direction of the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, 3I/ATLAS is presently located about 670 million km from Earth.
"Beyond that we do not know very much, and there are many efforts underway to observe this object with larger telescopes to determine composition," University of Hawaii astronomer Larry Denneau, co-principal investigator for ATLAS, said on Thursday.
The only other such interstellar visitors previously observed by astronomers were objects called 1I/'Oumuamua (pronounced oh-MOO-uh-MOO-uh), detected in 2017, and 2I/Borisov, discovered in 2019.
"The comet has some similarities to 2I/Borisov in that it appears to be an icy comet, but it is much larger, possibly 10km in diameter," Denneau said.
"It currently has a faint coma," Denneau added, referring to the cloud of gas and dust surrounding a comet's nucleus, "but the coma and tail may increase dramatically as the object comes closer to the sun. Its closest approach to the sun will be later this year, when it will come inside the orbit of Mars. We don't know what will happen, so that's exciting."
Astronomers said the comet poses no threat to Earth and will never come closer than 240 million km away, equivalent to more than one-and-a-half times the distance between Earth and the sun. It is currently located about 670 million km from the sun and will reach its closest approach to the sun around October 30, when it will be about 210 million km away from our star.
The ATLAS network is a NASA-funded telescope survey built and operated by the University of Hawaii, with five telescopes around the world that scan the night sky continuously to look for objects that could threaten Earth.
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The Advertiser
6 hours ago
- The Advertiser
New comet is third interstellar object in solar system
Astronomers are tracking a newly spotted comet hailing from parts unknown, only the third time such an interstellar object has been observed visiting our solar system. According to US space agency NASA, the interloper - named 3I/ATLAS - was first spotted on Tuesday by an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, telescope located in Rio Hurtado, Chile. Astronomers said its unusual trajectory indicated it had ventured from beyond our solar system. Journeying at a speed of around 60km per second from the direction of the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, 3I/ATLAS is presently located about 670 million km from Earth. "Beyond that we do not know very much, and there are many efforts underway to observe this object with larger telescopes to determine composition," University of Hawaii astronomer Larry Denneau, co-principal investigator for ATLAS, said on Thursday. The only other such interstellar visitors previously observed by astronomers were objects called 1I/'Oumuamua (pronounced oh-MOO-uh-MOO-uh), detected in 2017, and 2I/Borisov, discovered in 2019. "The comet has some similarities to 2I/Borisov in that it appears to be an icy comet, but it is much larger, possibly 10km in diameter," Denneau said. "It currently has a faint coma," Denneau added, referring to the cloud of gas and dust surrounding a comet's nucleus, "but the coma and tail may increase dramatically as the object comes closer to the sun. Its closest approach to the sun will be later this year, when it will come inside the orbit of Mars. We don't know what will happen, so that's exciting." Astronomers said the comet poses no threat to Earth and will never come closer than 240 million km away, equivalent to more than one-and-a-half times the distance between Earth and the sun. It is currently located about 670 million km from the sun and will reach its closest approach to the sun around October 30, when it will be about 210 million km away from our star. The ATLAS network is a NASA-funded telescope survey built and operated by the University of Hawaii, with five telescopes around the world that scan the night sky continuously to look for objects that could threaten Earth. Astronomers are tracking a newly spotted comet hailing from parts unknown, only the third time such an interstellar object has been observed visiting our solar system. According to US space agency NASA, the interloper - named 3I/ATLAS - was first spotted on Tuesday by an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, telescope located in Rio Hurtado, Chile. Astronomers said its unusual trajectory indicated it had ventured from beyond our solar system. Journeying at a speed of around 60km per second from the direction of the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, 3I/ATLAS is presently located about 670 million km from Earth. "Beyond that we do not know very much, and there are many efforts underway to observe this object with larger telescopes to determine composition," University of Hawaii astronomer Larry Denneau, co-principal investigator for ATLAS, said on Thursday. The only other such interstellar visitors previously observed by astronomers were objects called 1I/'Oumuamua (pronounced oh-MOO-uh-MOO-uh), detected in 2017, and 2I/Borisov, discovered in 2019. "The comet has some similarities to 2I/Borisov in that it appears to be an icy comet, but it is much larger, possibly 10km in diameter," Denneau said. "It currently has a faint coma," Denneau added, referring to the cloud of gas and dust surrounding a comet's nucleus, "but the coma and tail may increase dramatically as the object comes closer to the sun. Its closest approach to the sun will be later this year, when it will come inside the orbit of Mars. We don't know what will happen, so that's exciting." Astronomers said the comet poses no threat to Earth and will never come closer than 240 million km away, equivalent to more than one-and-a-half times the distance between Earth and the sun. It is currently located about 670 million km from the sun and will reach its closest approach to the sun around October 30, when it will be about 210 million km away from our star. The ATLAS network is a NASA-funded telescope survey built and operated by the University of Hawaii, with five telescopes around the world that scan the night sky continuously to look for objects that could threaten Earth. Astronomers are tracking a newly spotted comet hailing from parts unknown, only the third time such an interstellar object has been observed visiting our solar system. According to US space agency NASA, the interloper - named 3I/ATLAS - was first spotted on Tuesday by an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, telescope located in Rio Hurtado, Chile. Astronomers said its unusual trajectory indicated it had ventured from beyond our solar system. Journeying at a speed of around 60km per second from the direction of the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, 3I/ATLAS is presently located about 670 million km from Earth. "Beyond that we do not know very much, and there are many efforts underway to observe this object with larger telescopes to determine composition," University of Hawaii astronomer Larry Denneau, co-principal investigator for ATLAS, said on Thursday. The only other such interstellar visitors previously observed by astronomers were objects called 1I/'Oumuamua (pronounced oh-MOO-uh-MOO-uh), detected in 2017, and 2I/Borisov, discovered in 2019. "The comet has some similarities to 2I/Borisov in that it appears to be an icy comet, but it is much larger, possibly 10km in diameter," Denneau said. "It currently has a faint coma," Denneau added, referring to the cloud of gas and dust surrounding a comet's nucleus, "but the coma and tail may increase dramatically as the object comes closer to the sun. Its closest approach to the sun will be later this year, when it will come inside the orbit of Mars. We don't know what will happen, so that's exciting." Astronomers said the comet poses no threat to Earth and will never come closer than 240 million km away, equivalent to more than one-and-a-half times the distance between Earth and the sun. It is currently located about 670 million km from the sun and will reach its closest approach to the sun around October 30, when it will be about 210 million km away from our star. The ATLAS network is a NASA-funded telescope survey built and operated by the University of Hawaii, with five telescopes around the world that scan the night sky continuously to look for objects that could threaten Earth. Astronomers are tracking a newly spotted comet hailing from parts unknown, only the third time such an interstellar object has been observed visiting our solar system. According to US space agency NASA, the interloper - named 3I/ATLAS - was first spotted on Tuesday by an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, telescope located in Rio Hurtado, Chile. Astronomers said its unusual trajectory indicated it had ventured from beyond our solar system. Journeying at a speed of around 60km per second from the direction of the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, 3I/ATLAS is presently located about 670 million km from Earth. "Beyond that we do not know very much, and there are many efforts underway to observe this object with larger telescopes to determine composition," University of Hawaii astronomer Larry Denneau, co-principal investigator for ATLAS, said on Thursday. The only other such interstellar visitors previously observed by astronomers were objects called 1I/'Oumuamua (pronounced oh-MOO-uh-MOO-uh), detected in 2017, and 2I/Borisov, discovered in 2019. "The comet has some similarities to 2I/Borisov in that it appears to be an icy comet, but it is much larger, possibly 10km in diameter," Denneau said. "It currently has a faint coma," Denneau added, referring to the cloud of gas and dust surrounding a comet's nucleus, "but the coma and tail may increase dramatically as the object comes closer to the sun. Its closest approach to the sun will be later this year, when it will come inside the orbit of Mars. We don't know what will happen, so that's exciting." Astronomers said the comet poses no threat to Earth and will never come closer than 240 million km away, equivalent to more than one-and-a-half times the distance between Earth and the sun. It is currently located about 670 million km from the sun and will reach its closest approach to the sun around October 30, when it will be about 210 million km away from our star. The ATLAS network is a NASA-funded telescope survey built and operated by the University of Hawaii, with five telescopes around the world that scan the night sky continuously to look for objects that could threaten Earth.
Perth Now
9 hours ago
- Perth Now
New comet is third interstellar object in solar system
Astronomers are tracking a newly spotted comet hailing from parts unknown, only the third time such an interstellar object has been observed visiting our solar system. According to US space agency NASA, the interloper - named 3I/ATLAS - was first spotted on Tuesday by an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, telescope located in Rio Hurtado, Chile. Astronomers said its unusual trajectory indicated it had ventured from beyond our solar system. Journeying at a speed of around 60km per second from the direction of the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, 3I/ATLAS is presently located about 670 million km from Earth. "Beyond that we do not know very much, and there are many efforts underway to observe this object with larger telescopes to determine composition," University of Hawaii astronomer Larry Denneau, co-principal investigator for ATLAS, said on Thursday. The only other such interstellar visitors previously observed by astronomers were objects called 1I/'Oumuamua (pronounced oh-MOO-uh-MOO-uh), detected in 2017, and 2I/Borisov, discovered in 2019. "The comet has some similarities to 2I/Borisov in that it appears to be an icy comet, but it is much larger, possibly 10km in diameter," Denneau said. "It currently has a faint coma," Denneau added, referring to the cloud of gas and dust surrounding a comet's nucleus, "but the coma and tail may increase dramatically as the object comes closer to the sun. Its closest approach to the sun will be later this year, when it will come inside the orbit of Mars. We don't know what will happen, so that's exciting." Astronomers said the comet poses no threat to Earth and will never come closer than 240 million km away, equivalent to more than one-and-a-half times the distance between Earth and the sun. It is currently located about 670 million km from the sun and will reach its closest approach to the sun around October 30, when it will be about 210 million km away from our star. The ATLAS network is a NASA-funded telescope survey built and operated by the University of Hawaii, with five telescopes around the world that scan the night sky continuously to look for objects that could threaten Earth.
The Age
a day ago
- The Age
Astronomers investigate mystery ‘interstellar' object speeding through our solar system
'Now we've got dozens and dozens of observations from loads of different people,' said Matthew Payne, director of the Minor Planet Centre. 'And so it's like becoming almost 100 per cent certain that it's interstellar.' The object is surprisingly bright. Although it cannot be seen by the naked eye, modest-sized telescopes can spot it. 'This is the most interesting question in my mind right now,' said Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist at Harvard. 'What accounts for its very significant brightness?' That is especially intriguing if the surface turns out to be dark, like that of a rocky asteroid. In that case, the object would have to be big, about 19 kilometres wide, to reflect the amount of light observed. That would be larger than the asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, which unleashed the mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs. Finding an interstellar object that big would be a surprise, Loeb said. It would possess about 10 million times the mass of Oumuamua, he said. Loading Because small bodies are much more bountiful than large ones, the existence of a 19-kilometre-wide interstellar object would imply that astronomers should have also seen millions of Oumuamua-sized ones. A11pI3Z could turn out to be an interstellar comet like Borisov, the second interstellar object observed. For a comet, the brightness comes from sunlight bouncing off a plume of gas and dust, and the nucleus would be considerably smaller. 'If we find that it's a comet, nothing surprising here,' Loeb said. Loeb offered one other possibility. 'The final possibility, and I'm getting more speculative here, is that it makes its own light,' he said. 'Probably unlikely, but this is what comes to my mind.' When Oumuamua was discovered in 2017, Loeb speculated that it could be an alien artifact because of its unusual shape, like a cigar or a disc, and because it seemed to be pushed by a force other than gravity. He has since proposed a possible alien origin for odd material found on the seafloor of the Pacific. 'The good thing about this object is because it's bright, it will give us so much data that nobody would be able to deny it. If it has anomalies, nobody can shove them under the carpet of conventional thinking.' Avi Loeb, Harvard astrophysicist Whether it is a comet or a rock is a question that should be answered within a few days as larger telescopes point to A11pI3Z. If it is a comet, astronomers will see a tail. Astronomers will also have months to study it. Analysis of specific colours emitted could identify elements and molecules on its surface. Loeb said infrared measurements by the James Webb Space Telescope could measure how much heat was coming off the surface. 'If the object is tumbling, we would see the surface area changing over time,' Loeb said, 'and by that, infer, in three dimensions, the shape of the object. That'd be very exciting.' In contrast, the smaller Oumuamua faded out of view after only a few weeks, leaving many of its mysteries unsolved. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, which will soon begin scanning the full sky every three to four days, should find more interstellar objects, even further away. This will provide a more complete view of the interstellar objects passing through our solar system. Something that no one will need to worry about is A11pI3Z hitting Earth. In October, when it makes its closest pass to the sun, it appears that A11pI3Z will still be outside the orbit of Mars. In addition, Earth will be on the other side of the sun, so there will be more than 200 million miles of buffer between Earth and A11pI3Z. If A11pI3Z turns out not to be a comet, astronomers could be left with a lot of perplexing puzzles to solve. 'The good thing about this object is because it's bright, it will give us so much data that nobody would be able to deny it,' Loeb said. 'If it has anomalies, nobody can shove them under the carpet of conventional thinking. 'Science is about discovering things you don't expect. It's the opportunity to stay a child and learn something new. And I love it,' he added.
