{"id":741699,"date":"2026-04-20T22:21:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T22:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/741699\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T22:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T22:21:21","slug":"rare-interstellar-comet-spews-massive-amounts-of-water-into-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/741699\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare interstellar comet spews massive amounts of water into space"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Space lovers have more news to jump for joy about, as recent discoveries of an interstellar invader have revealed something marvelous.<\/p>\n<p>A comet named\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/solar-system\/comets\/3i-atlas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">3I\/ATLAS<\/a>\u00a0was first discovered on July 1, 2025, and is located about 420 million miles away from Earth, according to\u00a0NASA.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, the comet poses no threat to\u00a0Earth\u00a0and will remain at least 1.6 astronomical units (about 150 million miles) away.<\/p>\n<p>According to the\u00a0European\u00a0Space Agency, the comet comes from outside our solar system and is only the third of its kind ever to be observed.<\/p>\n<p>As of late, the comet has been observed by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope, which has been spraying tremendous amounts of water into\u00a0space.<\/p>\n<p>According to experts at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/space.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Space.com<\/a>, the comet spews enough water to fill 70 Olympic swimming pools into space every day.<\/p>\n<p>During observations by the European Space Agency, they discovered infrared emissions from water vapor and carbon dioxide molecules.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.77777778;display:block\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39143239\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/new-image-comet-3i-atlas-126047405.jpg\" alt=\"Image of Comet 3I\/ATLAS with a bright blue coma and blurred stars.\" class=\"wp-image-39143239\"  \/>A comet named\u00a03I\/ATLAS\u00a0was first discovered on July 1, 2025, and is located about 420 million miles away from Earth, according to\u00a0NASA. NASA<\/p>\n<p>The estimated outflow of water vapor from the nucleus of the comet is about two tons per second, according to Giuseppe Piccioni of the National Institute for Astrophysics.<\/p>\n<p>The shape and behavior of the interstellar object indicate that it is a comet, an icy object releasing dust and gas into space. <\/p>\n<p>These are important because they are so foreign and alien compared to the\u00a0worlds\u00a0of our own.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.77777778;display:block\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39143284\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gemini-south-cerro-pach-n-126047404.jpg\" alt=\"Comet 3I\/ATLAS streaks across a dense star field, with background stars appearing as colorful streaks due to the comet being fixed in the center of the telescope's field of view during exposure.\" class=\"wp-image-39143284\"  \/>As of late, the comet has been observed by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope, which has been spraying tremendous amounts of water into\u00a0space. International Gemini Observatory\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/Shadow the Scientist<\/p>\n<p>The initial observations of the comet, which began in 2025, were followed by an extensive wait for the data analysis to reach Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Through time, officials will gain more knowledge about these large space rocks.<\/p>\n<p>These objects carry clues about the formation of\u00a0worlds\u00a0far beyond our own galaxy, waiting to be discovered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Space lovers have more news to jump for joy about, as recent discoveries of an interstellar invader have&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":741700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[24],"tags":[15875,30517,916,159,783,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-741699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-comets","tag-interstellar","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-space","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116439370234126077","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741699","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=741699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}