Latest news with #PaulChodas
Los Angeles Times
07-07-2025
- Science
- Los Angeles Times
New interstellar comet will keep a safe distance from Earth, NASA says
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has discovered an interstellar comet that's wandered into our backyard. The space agency spotted the quick-moving object with the Atlas telescope in Chile earlier this week, and confirmed it was a comet from another star system. It's officially the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system and poses no threat to Earth. 'These things take millions of years to go from one stellar neighborhood to another, so this thing has likely been traveling through space for hundreds of millions of years, even billions of years,' Paul Chodas, director of NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, said Thursday. 'We don't know, and so we can't predict which star it came from.' The newest visitor is 416 million miles from the sun, out near Jupiter, and heading this way at a blistering 37 miles per second. NASA said the comet will make its closest approach to the sun in late October, scooting between the orbits of Mars and Earth — but closer to the red planet than ours at a safe 150 million miles away. Astronomers around the world are monitoring the icy snowball that's been officially designated as 3I/Atlas to determine its size and shape. Chodas told the Associated Press that there have been more than 100 observations since its discovery Tuesday, with preliminary reports of a tail and a cloud of gas and dust around the comet's nucleus. The comet should be visible by telescope through September, before it gets too close to the sun, and reappear in December on the other side of the sun. Based on its brightness, the comet appears to be bigger than the first two interstellar interlopers, possibly several miles across, Chodas said. It's coming in faster, too, from a different direction, and while its home star is unknown, scientists suspect it was closer to the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The first interstellar visitor observed from Earth was Oumuamua, Hawaiian for scout, in honor of the observatory in Hawaii that discovered it in 2017. Classified at first as an asteroid, the elongated Oumuamua has since showed signs of being a comet. The second object confirmed to have strayed from another star system into our own — 21/Borisov — was discovered in 2019 by a Crimean amateur astronomer with that name. It, too, is believed to be a comet. 'We've been expecting to see interstellar objects for decades, frankly, and finally we're seeing them,' Chodas said. 'A visitor from another solar system, even though it's natural — it's not artificial, don't get excited because some people do ... It's just very exciting.' Dunn writes for the Associated Press. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Mysterious Object Headed Into Our Solar System Is Coming From the Center of the Galaxy
Folks, it's official: the object that astronomers recently spotted blowing through the outer solar system came from interstellar space. Yesterday, the intriguing stranger was named A11pl3Z. Now, it's earned the esteemed designation 3I/ATLAS — that "I" standing for "interstellar." 3I/ATLAS is currently located between the orbits of the asteroid belt and Jupiter, the New York Times reports, where it's about 416 million miles away from the Sun, NASA said. That's equal to four and a half times the distance between the Earth and our star. But it's approaching fast. As we speak, 3I/ATLAS is hurtling toward the inner solar system at a speed of about 130,000 miles per hour — a "thousand times over the speed limit on a highway," Harvard's Avi Loeb quipped. "This thing is traveling pretty fast," Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, told the NYT. "If you trace its orbit backward, it seems to be coming from the center of the galaxy, more or less," Chodas added. "It definitely came from another solar system. We don't know which one." 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object to reach our Sun's domain — hence the "3." The first was 'Oumuamua, spotted in 2017, which became famed for its unusually elongated shape. The second, dubbed Borisov, was a comet that spectacularly began to break apart. Provisionally, this latest visitor also appears to be a comet, making it the second known "rogue" comet in history. Its discovery and confirmation as an extrasolar visitor were a collaborative effort. What initially appeared to be an asteroid was first flagged Tuesday by a telescope in Chile that's part of the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center quickly added the intriguing object to its list of confirmed near-Earth objects. So did NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Soon, more than 100 observations from telescopes across the globe poured in, including "tentative reports of cometary activity," the Minor Planet Center said Wednesday, providing enough data to designate it 3I/ATLAS. "There's no uncertainty" about its interstellar origins, Chodas told the NYT, because it's moving too fast to come from our own solar system. We can only speculate how it got here. Per the NYT, it probably formed as a comet around another star, before a gravitational interaction, perhaps a passing star, booted it out of its home system. How large 3I/ATLAS is is also a matter of some debate. If it were a rocky asteroid, the interstellar interloper would have to be about 12 miles wide to reflect the levels of light we're seeing, according to the NYT, which is what astronomers initially estimated. But since it's a comet, it's much harder to say. Comets owe their luminous appearance to a halo of gas and dust known as a coma, which is released when the object is heated up by sunlight. These comas appear much larger than the solid object at their center, and their tails even more so; Borisov's was nearly 100,000 miles long, astronomers estimated, or about 14 times the size of the Earth. "You can't infer the size of the solid object from the brightness of the coma," Chodas told the NYT. "So it's too early to say how big this object is." The good news is that there will be plenty of time to study 3I/ATLAS, which hasn't always been the case in our limited encounters with interstellar visitors; 'Oumuaua, for instance, vanished after just a few weeks. "It'll be easily observable for astronomers around the world," Chodas told the NYT. "It should be visible well into next year to large telescopes." 3I/ATLAS is expected to reach its closest approach to the Sun around October 30, NASA said, at a distance of about 130 million miles, putting it inside the orbit of Mars. More on: Scientists Investigate What Happens If You Snort Moon Dust
Nahar Net
04-07-2025
- Science
- Nahar Net
New interstellar comet will keep a safe distance from Earth, NASA says
by Naharnet Newsdesk 04 July 2025, 15:19 NASA has discovered an interstellar comet that's wandered into our backyard. The space agency spotted the quick-moving object with the Atlas telescope in Chile earlier this week, and confirmed it was a comet from another star system. It's officially the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system and poses no threat to Earth. "These things take millions of years to go from one stellar neighborhood to another, so this thing has likely been traveling through space for hundreds of millions of years, even billions of years," Paul Chodas, director of NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, said Thursday. "We don't know, and so we can't predict which star it came from." The newest visitor is 416 million miles (670 million kilometers) from the sun, out near Jupiter, and heading this way at a blistering 37 miles (59 kilometers) per second. NASA said the comet will make its closest approach to the sun in late October, scooting between the orbits of Mars and Earth — but closer to the red planet than us at a safe 150 million miles (240 million kilometers) away. Astronomers around the world are monitoring the icy snowball that's been officially designated as 3I/Atlas to determine its size and shape. Chodas told The Associated Press that there have been more than 100 observations since its discovery on July 1, with preliminary reports of a tail and a cloud of gas and dust around the comet's nucleus. The comet should be visible by telescope through September, before it gets too close to the sun, and reappear in December on the other side of the sun. Based on its brightness, the comet appears to be bigger than the first two interstellar interlopers, possibly several miles (tens of kilometers) across, Chodas said. It's coming in faster, too, from a different direction, and while its home star is unknown, scientists suspect it was closer to the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The first interstellar visitor observed from Earth was Oumuamua, Hawaiian for scout, in honor of the observatory in Hawaii that discovered it in 2017. Classified at first as an asteroid, the elongated Oumuamua has since showed signs of being a comet. The second object confirmed to have strayed from another star system into our own — 21/Borisov — was discovered in 2019 by a Crimean amateur astronomer with that name. It, too, is believed to be a comet. "We've been expecting to see interstellar objects for decades, frankly, and finally we're seeing them," Chodas said. "A visitor from another solar system, even though it's natural — it's not artificial, don't get excited because some people do ... It's just very exciting."
United News of India
04-07-2025
- Science
- United News of India
NASA discovers new interstellar visitor some 420 million miles from Earth
Washington, July 4 (UNI) In a major celestial discovery, NASA has located a new interstellar comet that's currently located about 420 million miles (675 million km) away from Earth. The space agency spotted the quick-moving object with the Atlas telescope in Chile on July 2 and confirmed it was a comet from another star system. The new interstellar comet's official name is 3I/ATLAS, reports CBS News. The newly discovered comet is the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system, and has been said to pose no threat to Earth. The other two interstellar objects were 2I/Borisov, reported in 2019, and Oumuamua in 2017. 'These things take millions of years to go from one stellar neighbourhood to another, so this thing has likely been traveling through space for hundreds of millions of years, even billions of years," Paul Chodas, director of NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, said yesterday. "We don't know, and so we can't predict which star it came from." The 3I/ATLAS is said to be over 416 million miles (669 million km) from the sun, out near Jupiter, and heading this way at a blistering 37 miles (59.5 km) per second. NASA said the comet will make its closest approach to the sun in late October, scooting between the orbits of Mars and Earth — but closer to the red planet than Earth at a safe distance of 150 million miles (241 million km). Space agencies worldwide are currently monitoring the icy snowball that's been officially designated as 3I/Atlas, trying to determine its size and shape. Chodas said there have been more than 100 observations since its discovery, with preliminary reports of a tail and a cloud of gas and dust around the comet's nucleus. NASA said 3I/ATLAS should remain visible to telescopes through September, but then it will pass too close to the sun to observe. It is expected to reappear on the other side of the sun by early December, allowing for renewed observations. Based on its brightness, the comet appears to be bigger than the first two interstellar interlopers, possibly several miles across, Chodas said. It's coming in faster, too, from a different direction, and while its home star is unknown, scientists suspect it was closer to the center of the Milky Way galaxy. "We've been expecting to see interstellar objects for decades, frankly, and finally we're seeing them," Chodas said. "A visitor from another solar system, even though it's natural — it's not artificial, don't get excited because some people do ... It's just very exciting." UNI ANV PRS
New York Post
04-07-2025
- Science
- New York Post
Mysterious Manhattan-sized interstellar comet spotted blasting through solar system: NASA
It's a stellar discovery. A Manhattan-sized interstellar comet was spotted blazing through our solar system — marking only the third time a mysterious object from beyond our cosmic neighborhood has been observed. The fast-moving comet — named 3I/ATLAS — was first discovered Tuesday by NASA's ATLAS telescope in Chile, sparking a race among astronomers to gather data as they traced its path back to June 14, the space agency announced Wednesday. Advertisement 'These things take millions of years to go from one stellar neighborhood to another, so this thing has likely been traveling through space for hundreds of millions of years, even billions of years,' Paul Chodas, director of NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, said Thursday. 3 Artist's concept of interstellar object 3I/Atlas. NASA / SWNS 'We don't know, and so we can't predict which star it came from.' The icy celestial visitor, believed to have come from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, is expected to pass 150 million miles away from Earth in October and poses no threat, NASA said. Advertisement It is currently 416 million miles from the sun, near Jupiter, and hurtling through space at a scorching 37 miles per second, with early reports showing the comet sporting a glowing tail and surrounding cloud of gas and dust around its nucleus. Its origin remains unknown. 3 Image of interstellar object 3I/Atlas. K Ly/Deep Random Survey / SWNS Advertisement 3 Illustration of interstellar object 3I/Atlas. ESA/Hubble/NASA/ESO/ / SWNS 'We've been expecting to see interstellar objects for decades, frankly, and finally we're seeing them,' Chodas added, noting its size appears to span about 12 miles across — making it larger than the first two known spacefaring drifters. 'A visitor from another solar system, even though it's natural — it's not artificial, don't get excited because some people do … It's just very exciting.' The first interstellar object identified from Earth was Oumuamua, named after the Hawaiian observatory that found it in 2017. The second, known as 21/Borisov, was detected in 2019. Advertisement The latest cosmic nomad will remain visible by telescope through September before it nears the sun. It is expected to reappear on the other side of the sun in early December. With Post wires
