by A newly discovered object that is accelerated by our solar system triggers excitement among the astronomers because it is not here. The object is accepted as a comet and is only the third heavenly body from beyond our solar system, which must ever be observed in our corner of the universe.
This interstellar visitor, which was now officially called 3i/Atlas, became known when NASA’s Atlas (Asteroid Terrestrical Impact Last Alert System) in Chile relaxed on Tuesday. Since then, astronomers who check archive observations from several telescopes have already followed the movements of the object on June 14th and found that the comet arrived from the direction of the Sagittarius constellation.
The speed and path of the comet through the solar system are two strong indicators that come beyond our solar system, said Gianluca Masi, astronomer and astrophysicist at the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Italy and founder and scientific director of the virtual telescopic project. Masi has made observations of the comet and will stream a live view of the object on the website of the virtual telescopic project on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The comet moves too fast at almost 37 miles per second (60 kilometers per second) – or 133,200 miles per hour (approx. 214,364 kilometers per hour) to be a “local” object in our solar system, said Teddy Kareta, an assistant at Villanova University near Philadelphia.
“Objects that are bound to the sun – the inhabitants of our solar system – take paths around them that return to the same point,” wrote Kareta in an e -mail. “The earth orbit is largely circular, Pluto’s orbit is a stretched oval, and many comets are very high ‘eccentric’ – their orbits are very long and narrow ellipses. The path of this object through the solar system is almost a straight line.”
The pursuit of the orbit of the object also shows the path that it has initiated for our solar system, said Dr. Paul Chodas, Director of the NASA Center for Almost Earth Spring Laboratory Laboratory of the NASA in Pasadena, California.
“When we extrapolate its movement backwards, we see that it clearly comes from outside of our solar system,” wrote Chodas in an e -mail. “It has to come from a different solar system and has probably traveled through the interstellar space for millions of years until it hit our solar system.”
Since the first sighting of the comet, which is 420 million miles away from the earth, astronomers have hurried to observe the object with telescopes around the world. One of these astronomers is Kareta, who watched the comet and used the Lowell Observatory Lowell Discovery Telescope in Flagstaff, Arizona, as soon as he heard about it on the night of his discovery. He said he thinks that it would take a few weeks before almost every large telescope on Earth and took the time in space to recognize and follow the comet.
“People are enthusiastic. Almost every planetary astronomer I know has immediately ran to a telescope or requested a telescope time (observation) in the next few days,” said Kareta, formerly postdoctoral researcher at Lowell Observatory. “While we have a few months to examine this fascinating object, the earlier it works – how it works – how it develops, which strange or unexpected properties it could have – the faster we can plan the rest of its passage through the solar system.”
A NASA diagram shows the trajectory of 3i/Atlas when it flows through the solar system. – NASA/JPL-CALTECH
Anatomy of an interstellar object
Comet 3i/Atlas follows two other fascinating interstellar objects, called Isos that once went through our solar system: ‘Oumuamua in 2017 and 2i/Borisov in 2019. Both objects, also regarded as interstellar comets, stirred an intensive interest. The accelerated movements of cigar -shaped ‘Oumuamua even lit the claim that it could be an extraterrestrial probe.
So far, little has been known about Comet 3i/Atlas. Astronomers appreciate its diameter of 20 kilometers with considerable uncertainty due to the brightness of the object, said Masi.
However, the comet seems to be the brightest and fastest of the three interstellar objects that have been discovered so far, noted Karta.
3i/Atlas approaches our solar system from the galactic center of Milky Way, a different direction than the previous objects, said Chodas.
The object has shown signs of comet activity, including that it apparently loses the mass like a comet. Comments consist of ice, frozen gases and rocks, and since they release gas and dust near stars like the sun near the sun, which creates their characteristic cocks. But it is not yet clear what type of material of 3i/atlas is published or which process it causes, said Kareta.
“In view of the continuing differences of opinion, I would be surprised if the diagnosis and understanding for most of them were not a priority,” wrote Kareta in an e -eMail. “We don’t know where (3i/atlas) was made from, but as our understanding of the orbit of the object (increased) we could make some good guess in a few months.”
The virtual telescopic project recorded a picture of the object on Wednesday. – Gianluca Masi/Virtual Telescope Project
The path of the comet
Astronomers said that the comet is not a threat to the earth and will remain at least 240 million kilometers from our planet of at least 150 million kilometers. The comet is currently around 416 million miles (670 million kilometers) from the sun and, according to NASA, will come closest to our star for our star around October 30th at a distance of 130 million miles (210 million kilometers).
On October 2, the comet will whip from the red planet on October 2 at 30 million kilometers to 18 million miles. From a astronomical point of view, this is a relatively narrow passport. As a reference, the earth is about 150 million kilometers from the sun.
The next that the comet comes to earth is 167 million miles (270 million kilometers) on December 19, said Masi.
Masi said that the comet was currently visible in the Sagittarius constellation, which is best referred to in the middle of the night in the southern sky. While the full moon makes 3i/Atlas difficult to observe on July 10, the observations should improve even with small telescopes in the coming months, he added.
Astronomers assume that the comet will remain visible to ground -based telescopic observations by September before it disappears from the field of vision. It should reappear on the sun at the beginning of December and enable post -observations. It will be observed by mid -2026, said Chodas.
Further studies could show whether comets in other solar systems look the same, said Kareta.
Studying interstellar objects is also crucial in order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of planets beyond our solar system, and how they form, he added and described these visitors as “some of the most fascinating things that we discovered”.
“They are comets and asteroids that formed around other stars – the building blocks of the planets around this distant stars – that were ejected into interstellar areas that we will find later while moving through our solar system,” said Kareta. “We want to measure everything on these objects to compare them with our own local comets and asteroids. They are big questions, but the fact that we can make progress by examining these fascinating objects should tell you why planetary astronomers are so excited to learn everything we can learn about them.”
Register CNNS Wonder Theory Science Newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific progress and much more.
More CNN messages and newsletter create an account at CNN.com
