Additional Coverage:
Hubble Snaps Stunning Image of Interstellar Comet
A remarkable new image from the Hubble Space Telescope offers the clearest view yet of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, a celestial visitor speeding through our solar system. Captured on July 21st, the image shows the comet’s teardrop-shaped dust trail, a result of its icy nucleus releasing gas and dust as it nears the sun. At the time of observation, 3I/ATLAS was a staggering 277 million miles from Earth.
Traveling at an incredible 130,000 miles per hour, 3I/ATLAS holds the record as the fastest observed interstellar object journeying through our solar system. Scientists are utilizing a network of telescopes, including Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope, and ground-based observatories, to track the comet and unravel its mysteries.
While the exact size of its nucleus remains unknown, estimations range from 1,000 feet to 3.5 miles in diameter. Researchers also hope to learn more about the comet’s composition as it remains visible to ground-based telescopes through September.
Further observations will have to wait until it reemerges from behind the sun in December.
Pinpointing the comet’s origin remains a challenge. David Jewitt, a professor of astronomy at UCLA and lead author of a study on the comet, describes the challenge: “It’s like glimpsing a rifle bullet for a thousandth of a second. You can’t project that back with any accuracy to figure out where it started on its path.”
Despite exhibiting behavior similar to comets originating within our solar system, the sheer speed of 3I/ATLAS strongly suggests its interstellar origins. Scientists believe the comet has likely been traveling through space for billions of years, its velocity increasing due to gravitational interactions with stars. 3I/ATLAS joins ‘Oumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019) as the third known interstellar object observed in our solar system.
Matthew Hopkins, a recent doctoral graduate from the University of Oxford and author of a separate study, highlights the significance of 3I/ATLAS’s velocity. He and his colleagues have developed a model to predict properties of interstellar objects based on their speed, and the discovery of 3I/ATLAS presents a valuable opportunity to test and refine their model.
While the age of interstellar objects is difficult to determine, Hopkins and his team estimate a 67% probability that 3I/ATLAS is older than 7.6 billion years, significantly older than our 4.5 billion-year-old solar system. He also notes that while such interstellar visitors likely pass through our solar system frequently, they often go undetected.
The upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory, with its advanced sky-scanning capabilities, is expected to revolutionize the detection of interstellar objects.
Hopkins and his team are optimistic that Rubin could discover between five and fifty interstellar objects in the next decade, shedding light on the diversity and characteristics of these intriguing celestial travelers. As Jewitt suggests, we may be on the cusp of discovering a whole new population of these interstellar wanderers.