The interstellar object passing through our Solar System has been identified as a comet.
Arriving from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, the interstellar comet has been officially named 3I/ATLAS. It was first identified by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (Atlas) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile.
It is only the third such object to have been identified as having an interstellar origin, which means it did not begin its journey in our Solar System and will not end it here. Rather, it will cross the length of our Solar System and exit our world in due course of time.
WHAT IS THE INTERSTELLAR OBJECT?
An interstellar object is a space object that originates from outside our solar system, meaning it was not formed around the Sun, but instead came from another star system or the space between stars.
Nasa said that since its discovery from Chile on July 1, old observations have been gathered from the archives of three different ATLAS telescopes around the world and the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California.
“These pre-discovery observations extend back to June 14. Numerous telescopes have reported additional observations since the object was first reported,” Nasa said.
The interstellar comet’s size and physical properties are being investigated by astronomers around the world. 3I/ATLAS should remain visible to ground-based telescopes through September, after which it will pass too close to the Sun to observe.
WHERE IS IT CURRENTLY?
The interstellar object is currently located nearly 670 million kilometres away from Earth in the orbit of Jupiter. As it comes closer to Earth, Nasa maintains that Earth is in a safe zone as it will fly away from a distance of 240 million kilometres from us.
3I/ATLAS will reach its closest approach to the Sun around Oct. 30, at a distance of 1.4 AU or 210 million kilometres, just inside the orbit of Mars.
Nasa said that once it disappears from view due to its proximity to the Sun, it will only reappear in December. “It is expected to reappear on the other side of the Sun by early December, allowing for renewed observations,” Nasa added.
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