Interstellar comet keeps its distance as it makes its closest approach to Earth
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A comet from another star system is swinging past Earth this week, tipping its cosmic hat, and then heading right back out of town without even stopping for snacks.
The visitor, known as 3I/Atlas, was discovered over the summer and will make its closest approach to Earth on Friday — a comfortable 167 million miles away, which in space terms is basically a polite wave from across the street. After that, it’s gone, accelerating back toward interstellar space like someone who realized they left the stove on in another galaxy.
NASA has been keeping a close eye on the icy wanderer with its space telescopes. The comet is estimated to be anywhere from 1,444 feet to 3.5 miles wide, which scientists translate as: “big, but not worth panicking about.” It’s already fading as it heads out, so if backyard astronomers want to catch a glimpse, now’s the time to point a telescope skyward before it vanishes forever like a bad houseguest who doesn’t say goodbye.
Before fully bailing on the solar system, 3I/Atlas will swing closer to Jupiter in March, passing within about 33 million miles — close enough for the gas giant to feel mildly acknowledged. After that, the comet will continue its long exit, finally reaching interstellar space sometime in the mid-2030s, never to return. According to Paul Chodas, director of NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies, this thing is seriously committed to leaving.
This marks only the third known interstellar object ever detected passing through our solar system. Unlike familiar comets such as Halley’s, which come from the icy outskirts of our own cosmic neighborhood, interstellar comets are true outsiders — formed around entirely different stars and just passing through like tourists who took a wrong turn.
The first confirmed interstellar visitor was spotted in 2017 by a telescope in Hawaii. Another showed up in 2019, discovered by a Crimean amateur astronomer. Comet 3I/Atlas was detected in July by NASA’s ATLAS telescope in Chile, which normally scans the sky for potentially dangerous asteroids — instead finding an ancient cosmic drifter minding its own business.
Scientists believe this comet may be older than our solar system itself, making it a tantalizing scientific target. In other words, it’s a relic from a much earlier chapter of the Milky Way — briefly passing through, being stared at intensely by humans with telescopes, and then disappearing back into the void, blissfully unaware of the attention.
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