Don’t miss this year’s brightest comet, “Atlas G3,” in 600,000 years’ time
A comet that hasn’t entered the inner solar system for about 180,000 years has suddenly appeared in the sky after sunset. “C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)” (Comet Atlas G3) has the potential to be the brightest comet of 2025. It is not expected to return for another 600,000 years, so now is your chance to observe it.
However, to find it, you need to know where to look.
Comet G3 seen from Earth orbit
NASA astronaut Don Pettit, who is currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS), posted a photo of Comet Atlas G3 taken from the window of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which is docked to the ISS.Publish on social media”The comets seen from orbit are truly amazing. Atlas C2024-G3 is visiting us,” he said.PostedPrior to this, Russian cosmonaut Ivan Wagner also observed the comet.I’m filming
There are also many photos taken from the ground .Petr HollarekOne photo taken by was particularly beautiful: “The comet was visible to the naked eye,” Hollarek wrote on Instagram.
What is Comet Atlas G3?
With its highly elongated, elliptical orbit and extremely long orbital period, Comet Atlas G3 is likely to have come from the Oort Cloud, a collection of icy planetesimals that circle the outer solar system.
It will reach its closest point to the sun, known as perihelion, on January 13, 2025. Amazingly, it survived the approach to just 13.4 million kilometers from the sun without disintegrating.Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)According to the study, it’s not likely to return to the solar system for several hundred thousand years, as gravitational interactions will likely keep it away from the sun for another 600,000 years, according to calculations.
The image of Comet Atlas G3 (C/2024 G3) captured by the Wide-Angle Spectroscopic Coronagraph (LASCO/C3) on the Solar Observatory SOHO, jointly operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) (NASA/ESA)
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