Interstellar comet 3I/Atlas to pass Earth, visible to astronomers

An unidentified object originating outside the solar system is expected to travel past Earth in the coming months.

The Guardian reports that the interstellar object is travelling towards the sun at a speed of 61km a second.

The object, named 3I/Atlas by scientists, was most probably a comet, University of Sydney radio astronomer Dr Laura Driessen said.

“There’s no evidence to point towards [3I/Atlas] being anything other than a really fun space rock that came from outside the solar system.”

Scientists estimate 3I/Atlas will come closest to the sun between October and December before continuing in an unknown direction.

Amateur astronomers could expect the object to be visible through telescopes as it gets closer to the sun.

The active comet will be passing Earth from a distance of 270 million kilometres.

Dr Rebecca Allen, co-director of Swinburne’s Space Technology and Industry Institute, told The Guardian the object was flying on a speedy hyperbolic orbit.

“It’s going to kind of cruise through the inner solar system - in between Mars and Earth’s orbit - and then it will fly past the sun.”

3I/Atlas is only the third “alien” object so far identified, joining 2017’s 1I/’Oumuamua and 2019’s 2I/Borisov.

Allen and other scientists hope to better understand the comet’s origins as it becomes increasingly visible.

Using a technique called spectroscopy, they can analyse 3I/Atlas’s chemical signatures to understand where it came from.

“Does this comet represent a solar system that had very similar conditions to our own, or is it something completely different?” asked Allen.