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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has discovered a rare intersteller comet. It is officially named 3i/Atlas.
The COMAT 3I/Atlas was discovered on 1 July and was seen by a Chile-based survey telescope called Atlas (asteroid terrestrial-effect last alert system).
A true outsider
As RootsAstronomers are tracking a newly spotted comet from the parts “unknown” parts.
“It comes from outside our solar system and now, it is inside Jupiter’s orbit, and it is leading for its closed pass to the Sun in late October,” said NASA’s Center for Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) a navigation engineer Davigation Engineer.
NASA said that the comet originated from the intersteler space (the place between the stars) and the constellation is coming from the direction of Sagittarius.
The comet is currently located about 420 million miles (670 million kilometers) away. It is traveling at a speed of about 37 miles (60 km) per second from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
“This was the first time found as a spot of light moving lighting relative to the background stars,” said David Fernoche. He said, “It is going to pass, go to us, and then go out and leave the solar system in the future.”
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Rare comet
Astronomers stated that its unusual trajectory indicated that it is beyond our solar system.
NASA JPL wrote in an Instagram post, “This rare visitor was seen from our solar system this week, and the global astronomy community is running to collect more data.”
The Spotting of the Comet 3I/Atlas is for the third time when such an intersteller object has been seen by visiting our solar system.
The only other such intersteller visited by astronomers was an object called AII/’OUMUAMUA (pronunciation Oh-moo-moo-uh), found in 2017, and 2i/Borisov, was discovered in 2019.
No danger, all thrills
NASA said that comet is no threat to Earth and would remain at a distance of at least 1.6 astronomical units (about 150 million miles or 240 million km).
Comets, 3i/Atlas, however, will reach its nearest approach to the sun around 30 October, a distance of 1.4 AU (about 130 million miles or 210 million km) – inside the orbit of Mars.
Is this an icy comet?
While NASA JPL refused to comment on the comet, the astronomer of the air university Larry Dano said on Thursday, “The comet has some similarities for 2i/Borisov that it appears to be an icy comet.”
The co-cum-cramped explorer for Atlas, Dano said that the comet is “very large, possibly 10 km (6.2 mi) in diameter.”
What else do we know about COMET 3i/Atlas
Larry Dano said that the COMAT 3I/Atlas currently has a unconscious coma, which mentions a cloud of gas and dust around the nucleus of a comet. “But coma and tail can grow dramatically because the object comes closer to the sun,” they were quoted by Reuters.
Astronomers are excited
This is a golden opportunity for astronomers to study an antiquity from another star system.
David Farnetia of NASA said, “We are really excited about these objects,” that so far, we have discovered three intersteller objects.
“So this is a rare opportunity, and as a scientific community, we want to mark these objects and collect as much data as possible to learn as much as possible,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dano said, “Its nearest approach to the sun will be at the end of this year when it will come inside the orbit of Mars. We do not know what will happen, so it is exciting.”
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