Sunday, July 13, 2025

Across The Universe: Interstellar Comet

 


There, in the orange cross hairs, is comet 31/ATLAS, discovered on July 1. According to NASA Science:

"Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third known object from outside our solar system to be discovered. Astronomers have categorized this object as interstellar because of the hyperbolic shape of its orbital path. (It does not follow a closed orbital path about the Sun.) When the orbit of 3I/ATLAS is traced into the past, the comet clearly originates from outside our solar system.

Comet 3I/ATLAS poses no threat to Earth and will remain far away. The closest it will approach our planet is about 1.8 astronomical units (about 170 million miles, or 270 million kilometers). 3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to the Sun around Oct. 30, 2025, at a distance of about 1.4 au (130 million miles, or 210 million kilometers) — just inside the orbit of Mars. [snip] 

Observations of the comet’s trajectory show that it is moving too fast to be bound by the Sun’s gravity and that it's on what is known as a hyperbolic trajectory. In other words, it does not follow a closed orbital path around the Sun. It is simply passing through our solar system and will continue its journey into interstellar space, never to be seen again." 

Traveling into the endless cosmos, briefly passing by our solar system, on its timeless journey. 


1 comment:

  1. Yeah but ... it *could* be hungry lizards and this is the apocalypse ...

    ReplyDelete