The newly discovered being rushes through our solar system is the excitement among astronomers because it is not from here. It is believed to be guilty, the object is only the third heavenly body from outside our solar system that is observed in our universe.
This visitor among the stars, who is now 3i/Atlas, has become known when the Atlas Atlas (NASA is a alert system “funded on Tuesday.
Gianluka Massi, astronomer and physicist astronomical at the Pilatex Astronomical Observatory in Italy, founder and scientific director of the virtual telescope project, said that the speed and path of the comet through the solar system are two strong indicators. Masi made comet notes and will broadcast a direct offer to the object on The virtual telescope project site Starting at 6 pm on Thursday.
Teddy Carreta, an assistant professor at the University of Villanova, near Philadelphia, said the comet is moving at a speed of about 37 miles per second (60 km per second) – or 133,200 miles per hour (about 214364 km per hour) – it is faster than being a “local” object in our solar system.
“The sun -related objects – residing in our solar system – takes the paths around them returning to the same point,” Kareta wrote in an email. “The orbit of the Earth is mostly circular, and the orbit of Pluto is an extended oval, and many” very emerging “comets – its orbits are very long and very narrow. The path of this object across the solar system is a straight line.
Since the initial vision of the comet, which is 420 million miles (675 million km) from the ground, astronomers rushed to monitor the object with telescopes around the world. One of these astronomers is Kareta, who noticed the comet, using the Discovery Lowell observatory at Lowell in Flagstaff, Arizona, as soon as he heard about it on the night of its discovery. He said he believed that it would only take two weeks before every large telescope on the face of the earth and in space has led to the discovery and follow -up of the comet.
“People are excited. Almost every astronomer I know him immediately ran to a telescope or sent e -mails asking for time (monitoring) in the next few days,” said Karareta, a post -PhD researcher at Luel Observatory. “Although we may have several months to study this wonderful being, earlier we can know how it works – how it develops, what are the strange or unexpected characteristics that may be – whenever we can plan the speedy time of its passage through the solar system.”
NASA 3I/Atlas Plan shows as it passes through the solar system. – nasa/jpl-caltech
An autopsy among the stars
The 3i/Atlas is followed by two other stars, called ISOS, who have passed once through our solar system: Omuamua In 2017 and 2i/Borisov In 2019, both of the objects, who are also believed to be comets among the stars, have caused great attention. the Fasting movements From Omuamua in the form of a cigar, even ignited the allegations that it could be a foreign probe.
Little is known about the comet 3i/Atlas. Massi said that astronomers are estimated in diameter to be 12 miles (20 km), with great uncertainty due to the brightness of the object.
However, the comet seems to be the brightest and fastest things among the stars that have been discovered so far, Karareta pointed out.
The organism showed signs of comic activity, including that it seems to lose the mass like a guilty. Complets are made of ice, frozen gases and rocks, and while they were near stars like the sun, they make them the heat of launching gas and dust, creating their distinctive tails. Carreta said it has not yet been clear from the type of materials that are launched from 3i/Atlas or what process it causes.
“Given the ongoing differences about the reason why the orbits accelerate the first Omamwa, I will be surprised if the diagnosis of this matter is not a priority for most of them,” Kareta wrote in an email. “We do not know where (3i/atlas) came yet, but with our understanding of the orbit of the object (increases), we may be able to make some good guesses within a few months.”
The virtual telescope project took a picture of the object on Wednesday. Gianluca Masi/Virtual Telescope project
The path of the comet
Astronomers said that the comet does not pose any threat to the Earth and will remain at least 150 million miles (240 million kilometers) of our planet. The comet is currently about 416 million miles (670 million km) from the sun and will offer an approach to it closer to our star on about 30 October at a distance of 130 million miles (210 million km), according to what it said. Nassa.
The comet will also fail by Mars on October 2, 18 million miles (30 million km) from the Red Planet. This is a relatively close pass, astronomical. To return to it, the Earth is about 93 million miles (150 million km) of the sun.
Massi said that the nearest comet will come to Earth is 167 million miles (270 million km) on December 19.
Massi said that the comet is currently visible in the constellation of the bow, which it is better to display from the southern sky in the middle of the night. He added that the observations inherent in July 10 will make 3i/ATLAS difficult to monitor, even with small telescopes should improve in the coming months.
Astronomers expect the comet to remain visible to the Earth’s telescope notes during the month of September before it disappears. It should appear on the other side of the sun in early December, providing follow -up notes.
Other comets can reveal whether comets appear similar in other solar energy systems.
He added that studying things between stars is also very important to gain a broader understanding of the planets outside our solar system and how to form them, describing these visitors as “some of the most wonderful things that we discovered.”
“They are comets and asteroids that were formed around other stars – building blocks from the planets around those distant stars – which were taken out in an area between the stars that we find later and they press our solar system,” Carreta said. “We want to measure everything we can about these things to compare them with our local comets and asteroids. They are big questions, but the fact that we can make any progress on them by studying these wonderful things, it must tell you why the planetary astronomers are very excited to learn everything we can.”
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