The solar system officially has a new neighbor. Over the past hours, observations have been confirmed that the previously known object as A11PL3Z and that it attracted the attention of astronomers around the world is an interstellar object outside the solar system and that it is a comet.
“Last night, he was officially classified as an interstellar object, since we watched orbit, good enough to confirm this, and he was given what is called the temporary name, which in this case is probably the final name: 3I/Atlas,” says Javier Likandro, researcher of the Canadian Islands (IAD), in Eldiario. In the name of 3I refers to the fact that this is the third object of this type, after the asteroid Oumuamua and Comet 2i/Borisov, and the atlas that it was discovered in the last system of ground asteroids.
“We saw on the new images that the object has a small comma, which usually represents dust, as in comets that sublimat ice and pull out water from water vapor, creating a spherical or together a zone around,” explains Likandro. “Yesterday, in the 2nd Tescope, this was quite obvious, and that is why they also classified it as an interstellar comet.”
The first observations were made on July 1 from Atlas in Chile, but these other telescopes were observed, for example, which have this system in Teide and depend on the IAC. Based on the constellation Sagittarius, the interstellar comet is located at a distance of about 670 million kilometers (420 million miles).
The object does not pose a threat to the Earth and will remain at a distance of at least 1.6 astronomical units (about 240 million km). It is expected that 3I/Atlas has reached its point closest to the Sun around October 30, at a distance of 1.4 UA (about 210 million km), right in the orbit of Mars.
Overview of the size
Although the first grades spoke of a large object with a diameter of about 20 km, the fact that it was a snake can significantly make this figure, since part of the brightness was caused by a coma. “Almost certainly that this is less, because the assessment that I made yesterday was based on the fact that the object did not have a coma,” says Likandro. “Having a comma, it shines more, and the size is estimated from brightness.”
Why is the detection of such an interstellar object so relevant? Since an asteroids and comets are the remnants of the formation of the planets that rotated around the star, they offer us valuable information about another system, different from ours. “We have the main material that was formed around another star,” says Likandro. “What we can know about this material tells us whether the processes that our asteroids and comets are created are similar to those that are found in other stars and produce similar bodies.” These objects are extremely rare, cross our system for several months, and then we will never see it again.
According to NASA, 3I/Atlas should remain visible with terrestrial telescopes until September, after which it will pass too close to the sun to observe. It is expected that in early December it will appear on the other side of the sun, which will allow new observationsField
