Center of attention of the scientific community, the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS it has become the recent focus of astronomical observations around the world.
Reported for the first time by a research telescope positioned in northern Chile in July this year, the celestial body draws the attention of experts due to the peculiar chemistry that makes it up.
Comet “visitor”
Third space object located outside the solar system, the comet was categorized as internalestellar due to its hyperbolic trajectory — which means he’s not tied to the and does not follow a closed orbit.
Before him, identified the celestial visitors “Oumuamua”, discovered in 2017, and “2I/Borisov”, in 2019.
Preliminary studies carried out by reveal that the 3I/Atlas formed in another star system and was ejected into space where it wandered for about millions of years until reaching the
Identified near the constellation Sagittarius, at the center of the Milky Way, the comet was approximately 670 million kilometers from the Sun, within the orbit of Jupiter. Still according to astronomical analyses, 3I/ATLAS moves at a speed of 221,000 kilometers per hour (or 61 km/s) – which prevents it from being contained by solar gravity.
Observation presents unique challenge
The event led the organization to Right to announce a special training exercise which will take place between November 27th of this year and January 27th, 2026.
The campaign aims to improve the accuracy of the comet’s orbital measurements. “Although it does not pose any threat, comet 3I/ATLAS represents a great opportunity for the IAWN community to carry out an observation exercise due to its prolonged observability from Earth and the high interest of the scientific community”, highlights the network in an official note.
