A rare comet passes close to Earth

Comet 3I/Atlas has orbited the Sun and is already on its “return journey” to interstellar space. However, it still manages to get close to the Earth on its way.

3I/Atlas will pass close to Earth on Friday in the morning at around eight o’clock Finnish time. The distance to it is then “only” about 270 million kilometers.

The comet cannot be seen with the naked eye. Even with small telescopes, it can be difficult to detect.

A comet of course, there was time to take a closer picture. At the beginning of October, for example, NASA’s satellite orbiting Mars Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observed it.

It stood out in the images as a fuzzy white ball and was then about 145 million kilometers away.

The diameter of the comet’s nucleus has been estimated using different measurements. It is a minimum of 320 meters and a maximum of 5.6 kilometers.

The comet has aroused a lot of discussion and interest during the late summer and autumn, and it has been studied with numerous different instruments. Thus, 3I/Atlas is perhaps the most studied comet, says NASA photo gallery.

One reason for the interest is that 3I/Atlas is only the third comet that has been observed to have entered our solar system from far away, i.e. from interstellar space.

The previous ones were comets ‘Oumumaua in autumn 2017 and Borisov in autumn 2019.

Astronomers believe that 3I/Atlas provides clues about the composition of distant celestial bodies.

The origin of the comet is unknown, but it was born around a different star than our Sun.

Thus, the comet offered a rare opportunity to study material that originated far from space.

The location of the guest star is unknown. However, scientists believe that that unknown star and its surroundings are older than our own Sun, which is 4.6 billion years old.

3I/ATLAS found on July 1 by the Atlas telescope in Chile.

Soon, the comet began to be monitored with various devices, all the way from space and the orbit of Mars.

Comets near the Earth can follow online. The live broadcast starts on Friday morning at 6 o’clock Finnish time.

3I/Atlas will pass Jupiter in the spring of 2026. Eventually, the comet will break free from the grip of our solar system’s gravity and continue into interstellar space.