“ Closest point of view ” to date of the interstellar comet 3i / Atlas captured by ESA Mars Orbiter
Two spacecrafts on Mars captured new images of the interstellar comet 3i / Atlas in the nearest opinion as the European Space Agency (ESA) will obtain the mysterious object, according to a ESA declaration.
The comet, who came from a Star system unknown far beyond oursCurrently makes a one -month visit to the inner solar system. He made his approach closest to March Friday October 3 before a close meeting with the sun October 30. During her recent overflight of the Red Planet, the comet saw the day of the Fleet of Robotic Explorers of ESA and NASA, in particular the Gas Trace Exomars of ESA (TGO) and Mars Express Orbiter.
By lightning of 18.6 million miles (30 million kilometers) above the head, the comet proved to be too low for Mars Express to capture. However, the Exomars TGO satellite managed to break a series of images, which ESA has combined in an animated gif. The animation shows the comet – visible as a blurred and brilliant point – descending towards the center of the frame while it launches from March to around 130,000 MPH (210,000 km / h).
What can we see?
The brilliant point represents the core of the comet (the icy rock ball which constitutes the body of the comet) and its coma (the nebulous cloud of gas which escapes from the nucleus when it warms). While comets are getting closer to the sun, ice on their sublime surfaces in gas, which is more and more brilliant, more and more brilliant, According to NASA. The pressure of the incoming solar wind can also blow the gas and the dust of the coma far from the sun, giving the comets their Distinctive tails.
Because TGO was designed to monitor the Martian surface a few hundred kilometers away, its instruments are not the best to record distant objects, fast -moving objects like 3i / Atlas, ESA officials noted.
“The comet is around 10,000 to 100,000 times lower than our usual target”. Nick ThomasMain investigator of the Exomars stereo -surface imaging system, said in the press release. Consequently, no tail is visible in the new images. But that does not mean that the comet does not have it; While 3i / Atlas approaches the sun, its coma and its tail are likely to grow and lighten, added ESA officials.
Currently, the new images do not reveal new ideas on the particular object, but ESA will continue to analyze the images of its two satellites Mars in the hope of teasing new data on the possible size and composition of the comet.
He remains uncertain if one of the Rovers or satellites dedicated to NASA also spotted the comet during her close approach, while the agency interrupted all public communications when the US government is closed. However, a raw image captured by the right navigation camera of the Perseverance rover on October 4 shows a brilliant and striated object in the sky It may be the 3i / Atlas comet, according to the Live Science sister site Space.com. No official image information has been published.
3i / Atlas is the third interstellar object never confirmed – after 1i / ‘Oumaumua And 2i / Borisov – And seems to be the largest so far, with estimates that placed it between 3 and 7 miles (5 to 11 km) wide. Its speed and trajectory suggest that it has zoomed in the galaxy for billions of years and is probably much older than the sun.
The comet is currently traveling on the other side of the sun, out of the Earth’s sight, but it will become visible for telescopes on the ground in early December. The comet will pass Jupiter in March 2026, before leaving our solar system forever.
