Latest update on 3I/ATLAS: Interstellar comet is getting brighter

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS is brightening unexpectedly, new observations have shown. The object has been creating a lot of buzz for its strange appearance and the absence of a tail in initial images. However, it now has a cometary tail and is also becoming more active. As comets start coming closer to the Sun, they begin to get brighter. But, mid-September observations show that 3I/Atlas is rising above the upward-sloping line of brightening. However, the brightness might lower or go even more upwards in the coming weeks. Comets are known to behave unpredictably, so there is no way to know how 3I/Atlas will behave. As the comet gets closer to the sun, the water ice on its surface will sublimate, a process during which dust particles are ejected. This gas and dust is the bright, fuzzy coma at the centre of the comet, and elongates to form the tail of the comet. Earlier, the interstellar object caused quite a storm in the astronomy community after it was first spotted in July. Also Read: Origin of 3I/ATLAS: Scientists claim the interstellar visitor is travelling from THIS point in space

NASA's TESS also caught 3I/Atlas in May, precovery data show

3I/Atlas had a strange trajectory, which led scientists to conclude that it was not a resident of our solar system and had come from interstellar space. Harvard scientists Avi Loeb cited several things about 3I/Atlas to claim it could be an alien spaceship coming to probe Earth and the other planets in the solar system. However, the rest of the community is sure that it is a comet. However, all of them agree that 3I/Atlas has been behaving strangely. After it was officially spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) station at Río Hurtado, Chile, scientists went back through more data on other telescopes. They found NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) had captured it in May, and between May 7 and June 3, 3I/ATLAS suddenly became five times brighter.

3I/ATLAS will fly by Mars on October 3, and this would be a good chance to get a peek at the comet. The HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter can capture images of the comet during this period. The comet will be at a distance of 29 million kilometres from Mars, and get as close as 2.7 million kilometres in a couple of days. China's Tianwen-1 mission to Mars also has a high-resolution camera that can be used to monitor the comet. The CaSSIS camera on ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Mars Express’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) are slated to check in on 3I/Atlas on October 3.

3I/ATLAS arrival near Earth

Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is moving through the solar system at a staggering speed of 210,000 km/hour. It will do a flyby of Mars on October 3 and reach perihelion, that is, come closest to the Sun, on 29 October 2025. It will come nearest to Earth on December 19, 2025, when it will be 269 million km from our planet. It is expected to leave our solar system after wowing Earthlings.