A ground telescope in Chile recently glimpsed the comet’s glowing tail, which observations reveal has steadily been growing as the interstellar interloper cruises toward the sun.<\/p>\n
A famous comet visiting from outside our solar system known as 3I\/ATLAS<\/a> is blazing through our cosmic <\/a>neighborhood, leaving a striking trail in its wake.<\/p>\n A ground telescope in Chile recently glimpsed the comet’s glowing tail, which observations reveal has steadily been growing as the interstellar interloper cruises toward the sun.<\/p>\n It’s not often that a celestial object originating from another star makes its way to our solar system. Naturally, such a rare event prompts plenty of scientific inquiry and no end to wild theories \u2013 including an infamous one postulating that the object could be an alien spacecraft<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the more observations scientists are able to record<\/a> with both ground and space telescopes<\/a>, the more they learn about comet 3I\/ATLAS.<\/p>\n That includes the latest sighting from the Gemini South telescope in Chile<\/a>, operated by the National Space Foundation\u2019s NoirLab. Here’s what the telescope observed about the comet’s tail.<\/p>\n What is 3I\/ATLAS comet?<\/p>\n A comet known as 3I\/ATLAS<\/a> made news in July when it was confirmed to have originated outside Earth’s solar system<\/a>, which makes it just one of three known interstellar objects ever discovered in our cosmic neighborhood.<\/p>\n Comet Oumuamua, Hawaiian for \u201cscout\u201d or \u201cmessenger,\u201d\u00a0became the first interstellar object ever detected in the solar system<\/a> in 2017, followed by comet\u00a0Borisov<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n In the case of 3I\/ATLAS, the object, which scientists estimate to be more than 12 miles wide, is whizzing at 130,000 mph on a trajectory that on Oct. 30 will bring it within\u00a0about 130 million miles of the sun, according to NASA. It is expected to reappear in December on the other side of the sun, allowing for scientists to continue studying it.<\/p>\n A telescope in Chile \u2013 part of the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS \u2013 was the first to spot what initially looked like an unknown asteroid on a path approaching Earth\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n The observation was\u00a0reported to the\u00a0Minor Planet Center<\/a>, the official authority for\u00a0observing and reporting new asteroids<\/a>, comets and other small bodies in the solar system. The object, eventually confirmed to almost certainly be a comet and named 3I\/ATLAS, was later confirmed to have interstellar origins after follow-up observations.<\/p>\n Ground telescope in Chile reveals glowing tail on interstellar visitor<\/p>\n The Gemini South’s recent observations, made Aug. 27, show that 3I\/ATLAS displays a broad\u00a0coma, or a cloud of gas and dust that forms around the comet\u2019s icy nucleus as it gets closer to the Sun. It also sports a prominent tail, NOIRLab said in a Thursday, Sept. 4 press release<\/a> announcing the findings.<\/p>\n What makes the new observations significant is that the comet’s tail is “significantly more extended” than it appeared in earlier images<\/a>, suggesting that 3I\/ATLAS has become more active as it travels through the inner solar system. What’s more, data indicate that the dust and ice of 3I\/ATLAS are similar to those of comets native to Earth’s solar system, a sign that whatever process shaped its own native planetary system and stars are one in the same.<\/p>\n NASA space telescopes, including Hubble and James Webb, also imaged comet<\/p>\n Unlike comets bound to the sun’s gravity, 3I\/ATLAS is traveling on a hyperbolic orbit that will eventually carry it out of the solar system and back into interstellar space. That’s why, even though the comet poses no threat to Earth, the world’s astronomers and space agencies are racing to harness a rare opportunity to study planetary material<\/a> that formed from another star.<\/p>\n A fleet of NASA space telescopes have already been returning plenty of images and data back to Earth gathered from glimpsing the comet.<\/p>\n NASA’s iconic Hubble Space Telescope<\/a> previously got a look at the comet in July<\/a>, collecting data that allowed astronomers to estimate the size<\/a> of the comet\u2019s solid, icy nucleus as anywhere from 1,000 feet to 3.5 miles wide.<\/p>\n The James Webb Space Telescope then observed<\/a> the interstellar object Aug. 6 in near-infrared light<\/a>, followed by the newer SPHEREx telescope from Aug. 7-Aug. 15<\/a>, to get a better idea of its physical properties and chemical makeup.<\/p>\n Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. 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