Equipment from the European Space Agency managed to capture the image of a comet that passed 30 million kilometers away
A spaceship from European Space Agency (ESA)who studies the planet Marshe managed to photograph the comet 3I/Atlaswhich is only the third interstellar object – as celestial bodies that form in another star system and enter the Solar System are called – ever detected.
On Tuesday 7th the institution released an image taken from the ship ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) last Saturday, the 4th, when the comet approached the red planet. In the photo it is possible to see the center of 3I/Atlas, which corresponds to its rocky core surrounded by a cloud of gas and dust.
It was also seen from the ship Mars Expressbut he has not yet been identified in any of the photos taken by the equipment. This may be due to the camera’s maximum exposure time. Mars Express be less than ExoMars TGOaccording to ESA.
Space probes have cameras designed to capture the surface of Mars from hundreds to thousands of kilometers away. However, ESA estimates that the comet passed 30 million kilometers away from the two.
Researcher Nicolas Thomas said the observation was “very challenging” for the spacecraft, as the comet is 10,000 to 100,000 times fainter than the usual target.
Scientists will continue to analyze data from both devices in the coming months to try to determine what 3I/Atlas is made of and find out more about its behavior as it approaches the Sun. Based on its trajectory, astronomers suspect that it is the oldest comment ever observed and it is three billion years older than the Solar System, which is already 4.6 billion years old.
“As our orbiters continue to make impressive contributions to Martian science, it is increasingly exciting to see them respond to unexpected situations like this. I can’t wait to see what the data will reveal after further analysis,” said Colin Wilson, ESA’s Mars Express and ExoMars project scientist.
3I/Atlas was first seen on July 1 this year, by the telescope Latest asteroid impact warning system (Atlas)in Río Hurtado, Chile, and has been studied by astronomers ever since. Before him, only two other interstellar objects had been identified: the 1I/’Oumuamuain 2017, and the 2I/Borisovin 2019.
Source: Terra
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