A mysterious comet is capturing by means of our photo voltaic system. Why are scientists so enthusiastic about 3I/Atlas? | Space

What precisely is 3I/Atlas?

“We don’t know exactly where it came from, but it definitely came from outside the solar system,” says Dr Laura Driessen, a radio astronomer on the University of Sydney.

The identify comes from “i” for interstellar, “3” because the third such object detected, and Atlas for the community of telescopes that recognized it, referred to as the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System.

While some have speculated about an alien incursion, scientists say 3I/Atlas might be a comet. You might bear in mind the hypothesis over ’Oumuamua, which astronomers checked for radio alerts in case it was an alien craft. It wasn’t.

“There’s no evidence to point towards [3I/Atlas] being anything other than a really fun space rock that came from outside the solar system,” Driessen says. “Which, to be honest, is cool enough.”

Why are scientists excited in regards to the interstellar object?

In the Hubble picture, 3I/Atlas appears a bit like a “fuzzy snowball”, Allen says. Its hazy look is because of its “coma”, which is shaped because the comet’s floor is heated by the solar, releasing mud and gasoline, and there are indicators of a comet tail.

Those chemical signatures – of parts and molecules from exterior our photo voltaic system – will turn out to be extra seen the nearer it will get to the solar, Allen says. 

“We can use a tool called spectroscopy, and we can use light to actually understand exactly what that material is. Does this comet represent a solar system that had very similar conditions to our own, or is it something completely different?”

Researchers have already used the Hubble picture to estimate the diameter of 3I/Atlas to be lower than 5.6km, and probably as small as 320 metres.

Where is 3I/Atlas heading?

The area object is travelling at greater than 200,000km/h, Allen says.

“It’s going to kind of cruise through the inner solar system – in between Mars and Earth’s orbit – and then it will fly past the sun.

“This one is on what we call a hyperbolic orbit. So it’s not gravitationally bound to the sun. It’s travelling much too fast, and so it will just fly out the other side of the solar system.”

Its interstellar origins make 3I/Atlas completely different from different comets that orbit throughout the photo voltaic system, resembling Halley’s comet, says Con Stoitsis, the comet and meteor director on the Astronomical Society of Victoria.

It is predicted to make its closest method to the solar between October and December – coming inside about 210m kilometres – after which proceed its journey into area.

According to Nasa, the closest 3I/Atlas will come to Earth is about 270m kilometres.

“We’re not really sure where it’s going to end up until it comes around from the other side of the sun, and starts heading out to the outer solar system again,” Stoitsis says.

Can we see the comet?

While faint in the meanwhile, the comet is predicted to brighten because it approaches the solar, ultimately bringing it “within reach of most large amateur telescopes”, Stoitsis says. 

Even then, 3I/Atlas will in all probability appear as if a smudge, he says.

“We get bright-ish comets, three or four times a year, which are visible with small telescopes and binoculars. This is definitely not one of those,” he says. “Unless you’ve got a decent-sized telescope, you won’t see it.”