NASA Finds Foreign Comets Crossing The Solar System, The Size Is Still A Mystery

Illustration of interstellar comet movement in the solar system (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA NASA announced the discovery of a recent interstellar comet. The US space agency discovered the astronomical object on July 1. The comet is named 3I/ATLAS.

As the name implies, this comet was discovered by the Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) asteroid, the telescope located in Rio Hurtado, Chile and funded by NASA. This comet is known to come from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.

Before being clearly visible in early July, pre-observational data showed that this comet had appeared since June 14. This data comes from ATLAS which is located at the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory, California.

NASA states that this comet is harmless to Earth. There are no signs of a threat to other planets either. According to ATLAS data, this 3I comet is about 670 million kilometers from Earth.

"This scheme poses no threat," NASA said in its latest report. "3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to the Sun on October 30, at a distance of about 130 million miles or 210 million km right inside Mars orbit."

This comet will certainly remain at a safe distance, at least about 240 million kilometers from Earth. This means that 3I will not be in a closer distance. For now, the results of the observations have not shown such detailed information.

The reason is, the position of the comet is too close to the Sun so it is difficult to observe. Astronomers around the world are investigating the planet to determine the size and nature or elements of its comet.

"3I/ATLAS will remain visible to ground-based telescopes until September, after which it will pass the Sun too close to be observed. This comet is expected to reappear on the other side of the Sun in early December, allowing re-observation," NASA explained.