{"id":334812,"date":"2025-10-26T22:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T22:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/334812\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T22:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T22:57:12","slug":"probes-could-catch-tail-of-manhattan-sized-space-object-3i-atlas-but-time-is-running-out-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/334812\/","title":{"rendered":"Probes could catch tail of Manhattan-sized space object 3I\/ATLAS, but time is running out: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pair of space probes cruising the solar system may be able to pass through<\/a> the tail of the mysterious Manhattan-sized comet hurtling towards Earth \u2014 but only if the scientists operating them act fast to divert-course.<\/p>\n

The probes \u2014 Hera\u00a0and Europa Clipper \u2014 are both speeding on separate missions, but a new paper being published in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society found they are perfectly poised to pay a visit to the remains of 3I\/ATLAS being dispersed across the solar system.<\/p>\n

Both probes will be flying \u201cdownwind\u201d of 3I\/ATLAS as it cruises through the cosmic neighborhood in the next few weeks and leaves a trail of particles in its wake, Live Science reported<\/a>, giving researchers the opportunity to fly directly through a comet\u2019s tail for first time in history.<\/p>\n

The probe Europa Clipper is on the way to Jupiter\u2019s moon, but could pass through the comet\u2019s tail if scientists act fast. Nasa<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope observed interstellar comet 3I\/ATLAS on Aug. 6, with its near-Infrared spectrograph instrument. NASA\/James Webb Space Telescope<\/p>\n

The probes wouldn\u2019t be flying straight through the tail<\/a>, however, but across a field where its particles are expected to be blown into space by the Sun\u2019s solar wind.<\/p>\n

That dispersal field would be about 5 million miles from the comet itself, but would still be plenty close for the probes to collect invaluable information from the particles it leaves behind.<\/p>\n

3I\/ATLAS has left scientists puzzled since it was first spotted in June. Though few have disputed that it is anything but a comet, its irregular behavior and make-up have some like Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb\u00a0speculating it could be an intelligently-operated alien probe.<\/p>\n

It is expected to fly closest to the Earth by the end of October, but will be hidden behind the sun and impossible for Earthen telescopes and cameras to get a good look at it.<\/p>\n

The object is also ejecting a nickel alloy only ever found in human manufacturing, and previously emitted an \u201canti-tail\u201d from its front that Loeb speculated could be some kind of \u201cbraking thrust\u201d system.<\/p>\n

The mysterious 3I\/ATLAS is believed to be a comet, but some speculate it could be an alien probe. AP<\/p>\n

Hera\u00a0and Europa Clipper could be science\u2019s best bet to gather information from the object.<\/p>\n

But they will only be in that position over the next two weeks<\/a>, and scientists would need to act immediately to send them on course to meet the comet\u2019s tail, according to Live Science.<\/p>\n

Hera may not even be able to be of much help. The probe is currently headed to study an asteroid and isn\u2019t equipped with instruments that could do much reading of 3I\/ATLAS\u2019 particles.<\/p>\n

But Europa Clipper \u2014 which is on the way to analyze ice on Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa \u2014 has exactly the kind of instruments the job would call for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pair of space probes cruising the solar system may be able to pass through the tail of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":334813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[92573,15875,916,159,783,23193,67,132,68,1154],"class_list":{"0":"post-334812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-aliens","9":"tag-comets","10":"tag-nasa","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space","13":"tag-space-program","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-us-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115442945011120529","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}