NASA discovers interstellar comet approaching at high speed
NASA has spotted a new interstellar comet called 3I/ATLAS with its ATLAS telescope in Chile.
First seen on July 1, 2023, near Jupiter's orbit and moving incredibly fast, this comet is only the third of its kind ever found coming from outside our solar system.
Comet will swing closest to Sun on October 30
3I/ATLAS will swing closest to the Sun on October 30, 2023—well inside Mars's orbit but never close enough to threaten Earth (it'll stay at least 240 million km away).
You can catch it with ground-based telescopes until September before sunlight makes it too hard to spot.
Bigger and faster than previous interstellar visitors
At several miles wide, 3I/ATLAS is bigger and faster than previous interstellar visitors like 'Oumuamua and Borisov.
Its mysterious origin means astronomers get a rare chance to study material from another star system.
After October, keep an eye out—it'll reappear in December for more observation!