Latest news with #CAPE_CANAVERAL
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
New interstellar comet will keep a safe distance from Earth, NASA says
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA has discovered an interstellar comet that's wandered into our backyard. The space agency spotted the quick-moving object with the Atlas telescope in Chile earlier this week, and confirmed it was a comet from another star system. It's officially the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system and poses no threat to Earth. 'These things take millions of years to go from one stellar neighborhood to another, so this thing has likely been traveling through space for hundreds of millions of years, even billions of years,' Paul Chodas, director of NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, said Thursday. 'We don't know, and so we can't predict which star it came from.' The newest visitor is 416 million miles (670 million kilometers) from the sun, out near Jupiter, and heading this way at a blistering 37 miles (59 kilometers) per second. NASA said the comet will make its closest approach to the sun in late October, scooting between the orbits of Mars and Earth — but closer to the red planet than us at a safe 150 million miles (240 million kilometers) away. Astronomers around the world are monitoring the icy snowball that's been officially designated as 3I/Atlas to determine its size and shape. Chodas told The Associated Press that there have been more than 100 observations since its discovery on July 1, with preliminary reports of a tail and a cloud of gas and dust around the comet's nucleus. The comet should be visible by telescopes through September, before it gets too close to the sun, and reappear in December on the other side of the sun. Based on its brightness, the comet appears to be bigger than the first two interstellar interlopers, possibly several miles (tens of kilometers) across, Chodas said. It's coming in faster, too, from a different direction, and while its home star is unknown, scientists suspect it was closer to the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The first interstellar visitor observed from Earth was Oumuamua, Hawaiian for scout, in honor of the observatory in Hawaii that discovered it in 2017. Classified at first as an asteroid, the elongated Oumuamua has since showed signs of being a comet. The second object confirmed to have strayed from another star system into our own — 21/Borisov — was discovered in 2019 by a Crimean amateur astronomer with that name. It, too, is believed to be a comet. 'We've been expecting to see interstellar objects for decades, frankly, and finally we're seeing them,' Chodas said. 'A visitor from another solar system, even though it's natural — it's not artificial, don't get excited because some people do ... It's just very exciting." ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
CTV News
03-07-2025
- Science
- CTV News
NASA identifies newly discovered object as an interstellar comet that will keep a safe distance
This diagram provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech shows the trajectory of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passes through the solar system. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has discovered an interstellar comet that's wandered into our backyard. The space agency spotted the quick-moving object with the sky-surveying Atlas telescope in Chile earlier this week, and confirmed it was a comet from another star system. It's officially the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system and poses no threat to Earth. The newest visitor is 416 million miles (670 million kilometres) from the sun, out near Jupiter. NASA said the comet will make its closest approach to the sun in October, scooting between the orbits of Mars and Earth — but closer to the red planet than us at a safe 150 million miles (240 million kilometres) away. Astronomers around the world are monitoring the comet — an icy snowball officially designated 3I/Atlas — to determine its size and shape. It should be visible by telescopes through September, before it gets too close to the sun, and reappear in December on the other side of the sun. The first interstellar visitor observed from Earth was Oumuamua, Hawaiian for scout, in honor of the observatory in Hawaii that discovered it in 2017. Classified at first as an asteroid, the elongated Oumuamua has since showed signs of being a comet. The second object confirmed to have strayed from another star system into our own —— 21/Borisov — was discovered in 2019 by a Crimean amateur astronomer with that name. It, too, is believed to be a comet. ___ Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Washington Post
03-07-2025
- Science
- Washington Post
NASA identifies newly discovered object as an interstellar comet that will keep a safe distance
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has discovered an interstellar comet that's wandered into our backyard. The space agency spotted the quick-moving object with the sky-surveying Atlas telescope in Chile earlier this week, and confirmed it was a comet from another star system. It's officially the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system and poses no threat to Earth.
Associated Press
03-07-2025
- Science
- Associated Press
NASA identifies newly discovered object as an interstellar comet that will keep a safe distance
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA has discovered an interstellar comet that's wandered into our backyard. The space agency spotted the quick-moving object with the sky-surveying Atlas telescope in Chile earlier this week, and confirmed it was a comet from another star system. It's officially the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system and poses no threat to Earth. The newest visitor is 416 million miles (670 million kilometers) from the sun, out near Jupiter. NASA said the comet will make its closest approach to the sun in October, scooting between the orbits of Mars and Earth — but closer to the red planet than us at a safe 150 million miles (240 million kilometers) away. Astronomers around the world are monitoring the comet — an icy snowball officially designated 3I/Atlas — to determine its size and shape. It should be visible by telescopes through September, before it gets too close to the sun, and reappear in December on the other side of the sun. The first interstellar visitor observed from Earth was Oumuamua, Hawaiian for scout, in honor of the observatory in Hawaii that discovered it in 2017. Classified at first as an asteroid, the elongated Oumuamua has since showed signs of being a comet. The second object confirmed to have strayed from another star system into our own —— 21/Borisov — was discovered in 2019 by a Crimean amateur astronomer with that name. It, too, is believed to be a comet. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers track object that may have originated outside the solar system
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronomers are monitoring an object headed our way that may have wandered over from another star system. Scientists have discovered what might be only the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system, the European Space Agency said Wednesday. The harmless object is currently near Jupiter hundreds of millions of miles (kilometers) away and moving toward Mars, but it should get no closer to the sun than that, according to scientists. It's too soon to know whether the object, designated for now as A11pl3Z, is a rocky asteroid or a icy comet, or how big and what shape it is. More observations are needed to confirm its origins. NASA said it is monitoring the situation. Astrophysicist Josep Trigo-Rodriguez of the Institute of Space Sciences near Barcelona, Spain, believes it is an interstellar object based on its odd path and extreme speed cutting through the solar system. He estimates its size at roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) across. The first confirmed interstellar visitor was in 2017. It was dubbed Oumuamua, Hawaiian for scout, in honor of the observatory in Hawaii that discovered it. Classified at first as an asteroid, the elongated Oumuamua has since showed signs of being a comet. The second object confirmed to have strayed from another star system into our own is 21/Borisov, discovered in 2019 and believed to be a comet. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
