NASA Confirms 3I/ATLAS as Interstellar Comet
▼ Summary
– Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed interstellar visitor, first detected by the ATLAS telescope network.
– Its closest approach to the Sun occurred during the U.S. government shutdown, delaying public release of NASA images and data.
– NASA confirmed it is a typical comet, not an alien spacecraft, based on its appearance and behavior like forming a coma and tail.
– The object’s extrasolar origin is determined by its highly eccentric orbit, which allows it to escape the Sun’s gravity.
– Astronomer Avi Loeb speculated it could be a spacecraft, but NASA firmly dismissed this idea, citing all evidence points to it being a comet.
NASA has officially confirmed that the celestial body known as 3I/ATLAS is an interstellar comet, marking only the third such visitor from beyond our solar system ever detected. The object was first spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope network, which explains the “ATLAS” portion of its name, while “3I” denotes its status as the third interstellar object identified. Although the comet made its closest approach to the Sun in late October, a U.S. government shutdown at the time delayed NASA’s ability to release images and share findings with the public until a recent press conference.
During the briefing, agency representatives emphasized that 3I/ATLAS displays all the classic characteristics of a comet and definitively is not an artificial object or spacecraft, despite some speculation to the contrary. The comet has developed both a visible coma, a cloud of gas and dust, and a tail as solar heating causes its icy materials to vaporize. NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatrya stated plainly, “This object is a comet. It looks and behaves like a comet, and all evidence points to it being a comet.”
The interstellar nature of 3I/ATLAS is determined by its orbital path. Astronomers measure orbital shape using a parameter called eccentricity. A perfectly circular orbit has an eccentricity of zero, while values closer to one indicate increasingly elongated elliptical paths. When an object’s orbital eccentricity reaches or exceeds one, it follows an open parabolic or hyperbolic trajectory, similar in shape to the bowl of a champagne glass, meaning it is not gravitationally bound to the Sun and will eventually escape into interstellar space. The high eccentricity of 3I/ATLAS confirms its origin from another star system.
(Source: Ars Technica)
