Scientists and hobbyist stargazer Worachate Boonplod observed 3I/ATLAS utilizing GOES-19 weather satellite information.
The brightness of Comet 3I/ATLAS is rapidly increasing as it travels behind the sun, as shown by observations from space.
The comet has been circling around the sun, making it impossible to see from Earth, as it reaches perihelion (its closest position to our star) on Thursday (Oct. 29).
However, while the majority of people have been anticipating its reappearance, several scientists and amateur stargazers have been employing spacecraft to monitor its trajectory.
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On Oct. 18, the comet was detected in pictures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES-19 weather satellite by Worachate Boonplod, an amateur astronomer and experienced comet observer. The CCOR-1 instrument on the satellite is used to observe the sun as a component of routine space weather monitoring. Boonplod mentioned that comet 3I/ATLAS was easily noticeable and would remain visible to the spacecraft until Oct. 24.
“Its illumination is close to that of neighboring stars, having a magnitude of roughly 11,” Boonplod noted on the Comets Mailing List group, a section of the group email service Groups.io. (In astronomy, a brighter object correlates with a greater magnitude; typically, objects with a magnitude beyond 6 are too dim to be seen without any aid.) “The comet is traveling from left to right (relative to both the field and background stars) and should exit the CCOR-1 field on October 24.”
The GOES-19 satellite was not the only one observing comet 3I/ATLAS. Also monitoring it are NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona Heliosphere (PUNCH) endeavor, comprising four small satellites aimed at the sun, as well as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) of NASA and the European Space Agency, reported by Universe Today. SOHO’s orbit around the sun is approximately 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth, with the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO C3) instrument tracking comet 3I/ATLAS until Oct. 26. Coronagraphs, such as those operated by SOHO and GOES-19, are tools that purposely obstruct the sun in photographs so as to examine the surrounding atmosphere, or corona.
On Wednesday (Oct. 28), a study was submitted to the preprint server arXiv by two scientists, showing that comet 3I/ATLAS underwent rapid brightening just before perihelion. The team calculates that the comet’s brightness will rise to about magnitude 9 at perihelion, which is still too faint to be observed unaided, but bright enough to be seen with excellent backyard telescopes if it were visible from Earth.
According to the study’s writers, the study used space-based solar equipment like GOES-19 and SOHO and determined that the comet was noticeably bluer than the sun, which was consistent with gas emissions considerably enhancing the comet’s brightness close to perihelion. This is typical of comets, which get hotter as they get closer to the sun, which causes surface ices to turn into gases that encircle the comet’s body and feed its tail. The gas is ionized by solar radiation, which results in more brightening.
Since its discovery in July, scientists have been employing various telescopes to gather as much knowledge as possible about comet 3I/ATLAS. The comet is only the third interstellar comet ever documented, and the data so far indicates that it is flying through our solar system at rates exceeding 130,000 mph (210,000 km/h) on an unusually level and straight path.
Despite certain extremely enthusiastic claims that comet 3I/ATLAS may be an extraterrestrial spacecraft, the majority of astronomers are convinced that this interstellar visitor is a space rock originating from a faraway, unknown star system.
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As stated in a NASA release , the comet’s speed, which is the fastest ever measured for a solar system object, implies that it has been traveling for billions of years, gathering pace by means of a gravitational slingshot effect as it passes by stars and nebulas.
In fact, 3I/ATLAS could be the most ancient comet ever seen, with one study estimating that it is approximately 3 billion years older than our 4.6 billion year old solar system. The comet is also probably the largest interstellar object ever observed, although researchers are still trying to nail down its precise dimensions. According to data from the Hubble Space Telescope, 3I/ATLAS has a maximum width of around 3.5 miles (5.6 km).
According to NASA, the comet will once again be seen by Earth-based telescopes by early December and may even be visible to spacecraft orbiting Jupiter as it approaches the gas giant in March 2026.
TOPICSNASA
Patrick PesterSocial Links NavigationTrending News Writer
Patrick Pester serves as the trending news reporter for Live Science. He has written for other scientific websites, including BBC Science Focus and Scientific American. Patrick became a journalist after beginning his career in zoos and wildlife preservation. He received the Master’s Excellence Scholarship to attend Cardiff University, where he earned a master’s degree in international journalism. Furthermore, he holds a second master’s degree from Middlesex University London in biodiversity, evolution, and conservation in action. Patrick explores the sale of human remains when he isn’t reporting the news.
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