A rare interstellar comet – only the third ever confirmed to enter our solar system – was photographed last week making a close approach to Mars, the European Space Agency announced Tuesday.
Images taken Friday by two Mars orbiters show a bright, fuzzy white dot of the comet, also known as 3i / Atlasappearing to move against a backdrop of distant stars as it was approximately 18,641,135 miles from Mars. The comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA said.
“This was a very challenging observation for the instrument,” Nick Thomas, principal investigator of the blackcurrant camera, said in a statement. “The comet is about 10,000 to 100,000 times fainter than our usual target.”
European Space Agency
Since its discovery in July, Comet 3i/Atlas has been photographed several times. In early August, NASA and the European Space Agency Shared images taken by the Hubble Space Telescopewhich captured the comet about 277 million kilometers away.
Last month, a New image showed growing tail from 3i / Atlas of another star system that ends in our solar system.
NASA said the comet will make its closest approach to the sun in late October, passing between the orbits of Mars and Earth. It is expected to remain visible until September before moving too close to the sun for observation, reappearing on the other side in early December.
The European Space Agency said Tuesday that scientists will continue to analyze data from both orbiters, combining several images from Mars Express in hopes of detecting the faint comet.
Interstellar comets are very rare, astronomers said. Only two other examples have ever been confirmed: 1i / ‘Oumuamu in 2017 and 2i / borisov in 2019.