{"id":215069,"date":"2025-12-04T13:39:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T13:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/215069\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T13:39:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T13:39:14","slug":"psyche-observes-interstellar-comet-3i-atlas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/215069\/","title":{"rendered":"Psyche Observes Interstellar Comet 3I\/ATLAS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft have acquired new images of 3I\/ATLAS, the third object and the second comet from outside the Solar System confirmed.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.sci.news\/images\/enlarge13\/image_14399e-3I-ATLAS.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-107542\" class=\"wp-image-107542 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image_14399-3I-ATLAS.jpg\" alt=\"Psyche acquired four observations of 3I\/ATLAS over the course of eight hours on September 8 and 9, 2025. Image credit: NASA \/ JPL-Caltech \/ ASU.\" width=\"580\" height=\"432\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-107542\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Psyche acquired four observations of 3I\/ATLAS over the course of eight hours on September 8 and 9, 2025. Image credit: NASA \/ JPL-Caltech \/ ASU.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sci.news\/astronomy\/interstellar-comet-3i-atlas-14211.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">3I\/ATLAS<\/a> was discovered by the ATLAS survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, on July 1, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The interstellar comet\u2019s orbit is the most dynamically extreme of any object yet recorded in the Solar System.<\/p>\n<p>Also known as C\/2025 N1 (ATLAS) and A11pl3Z, 3I\/ATLAS reached its closest approach to the Sun on October 30, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The new images of the comet were captured over the course of eight hours on September 8 and 9, 2025, when 3I\/ATLAS was about 53 million km (33 million miles) from NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCaptured by the mission\u2019s multispectral imager, these observations help us refine the trajectory of 3I\/ATLAS,\u201d members of the Psyche team said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPsyche\u2019s multispectral imager instrument comprises a pair of identical cameras equipped with filters and telescopic lenses to photograph the metal-rich asteroid Psyche\u2019s surface in different wavelengths of light.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile comet 3I\/ATLAS was distant from the spacecraft during these observations, the imager\u2019s sensitivity to the comet\u2019s reflected sunlight meant that the mission could precisely track the object.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new observations also provide more information about 3I\/ATLAS\u2019s faint coma, or cloud of gas and dust, surrounding its nucleus \u2014 the central frozen core of ice and rock.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPsyche joins many other NASA missions in determining the comet\u2019s location over time, which helps astronomers better understand its motion as it passes through the Solar System,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA\u2019s space missions help support the agency\u2019s ongoing commitment to find, track, and better understand solar system objects.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft have acquired new images of 3I\/ATLAS, the third object and the second comet from outside&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[10866,7043,18,19,10881,10867,17,1024,11762,133,10214,451],"class_list":{"0":"post-215069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-3i-atlas","9":"tag-comet","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-interstellar-comet","13":"tag-interstellar-object","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-nasa","16":"tag-psyche-spacecraft","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-solar-system","19":"tag-space"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115661581054075293","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}