3I/ATLAS SHOT TOWARDS THE SUN!!! WHAT NOW??
ð SPACE TODAY STORE: https://www.spacetodaystore.com.br ð MASTER CITIZENSHIP: WEBSITE: https://mastercidadania.com.br INSTAGRAM:   / master.cidadania  Newly released images of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS appear to show the alien object spewing a massive jet of gas and dust toward the Sunâjust as comets are expected to do. Discovered in late June and confirmed by NASA in early July, the comet originates from an unknown star system far beyond our own. 3I/ATLAS is only the third interstellar object ever detected. Measuring between 5 and 11 kilometers wide, it is the largest interstellar object ever to cross our path and likely the oldest, possibly dating back billions of years before the birth of the Sun. These and other peculiarities have led a small group of researchers to controversially assert that the object may be an alien spacecraft sent to spy on us. However, the vast majority of scientists maintain that 3I/ATLAS is a high-speed comet that behaves exactly like comets. New images of the interstellar interloper, captured on August 2nd by the Twin Two-Meter Telescope (TTT) at the Teide Observatory in the Canary Islands, Spain, further cement the object's natural origins. Combining 159 exposures lasting 50 seconds each, the composite image shows the icy body (or nucleus) of 3I/ATLAS as a large black dot surrounded by a white glow. A sudden, fan-shaped rupture in this bright ring shows where researchers say a large, high-speed jet of material (marked in purple) is being expelled from the comet toward the Sun. The image was shared on the transient object monitoring website The Astronomer's Telegram on October 15, but has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed study. Comets are famous for their bright tails of ionized gas, the largest of which can extend hundreds of millions of kilometers away from the Sun. Comet jets, by comparison, are much smaller and can point toward the Sun. While a dust cannon pointed toward our star may seem suspicious, it's just a standard part of a comet's anatomy, Miquel Serra-Ricart, astrophysicist and scientific director of the Pontes de Luz research institution at the Teide Observatory, told Live Science in an email. "This is business as usual," Serra-Ricart, who posted the new images, told Live Science. "The jets are pointing toward the Sun, and the comet's tail is pointing away from the Sun." This is because comets inevitably heat up as they approach the Sunâbut they don't always heat up evenly. The side of the comet facing the Sun heats up faster, and if a specific weak spot on the comet's surface heats up enough, a growing supply of sublimated gases can erupt like a geyser, hurling cometary material thousands of kilometers toward the Sun. As the comet's nucleus rotates, the jet can take on a fan-shaped shape, similar to what we see in the new TTT image, Serra-Ricart added. The famous comet NEOWISE, visible to the naked eye, also developed fan-shaped jets after its close pass by the Sun in 2020, as Hubble Space Telescope observations showed at the time. Some of this jet material ends up in the comet's coma (the bright plume of material surrounding the nucleus), while some can be forced into the comet's tail by radiation pressure from the incoming solar wind. This is why comets can simultaneously exhibit a sunward jet and a sunward tailâno alien technology required. 3I/ATLAS flew past Mars on October 3rd and is currently approaching its closest point to the Sun (perihelion), which it will reach on October 29th. The comet is now on the far side of the Sun and will not be visible from Earth again until mid-November. When it reemerges, astronomers will have a rare opportunity to see how the mysterious visitor changed after its encounter with the Sun and to what extent its jet and tail may have grown. SOURCE: https://www.livescience.com/space/com... #3I/ATLAS #COMET #interstellar PRESENTED BY: SÃĐrgio Sacani âĒ Instagram: @spacetoday1 âĒ Instagram: @spacetoday1 MARKETING & CONTENT: Beattriz Gonçalves âĒ Instagram: @soubiagoncalves âĒ LinkedIn: /in/beattrizgoncalves PRODUCTION: Gabriela Augusta âĒ Instagram: @gabiaugusta_ EDITING: Alexandre Ziolkowski âĒ Instagram: @thealexandrez PHOTOGRAPHY: Caroline Oliveira âĒ Instagram: @carolineoliveirafotos
