3rd Interstellar (maybe) comet heading this way

Oldeagle66 said:
I really hope it is an alien craft. If only to get us humans to get over our arrogance that we are the smartest or only life in existence. It would be pretty sad and dull knowing we are it.
Click to expand...
Here's about a dozen cases of UFO encounters from people all over the world who didn't know each other.
They didn't get fame, they got infamy. Some were miserable for decades after.
They didn't get rich, in fact, some of them lost their jobs, lost their spouses, lost friends, or their kids were estranged.

There was nothing in it for them, so why would these people lie?

 
This one's from my favorite channel about the universe. It's mainly about what 3I/ATLAS is made of, what it's carrying, and what it's out-gassing, all of which is very strange. But it helps scientists theorize about where it came from and what things are like there.

 
ohioboy said:
That would be a 400,000 + mile diameter object. You must have read it wrong.
Click to expand...
I got it right. And they're saying it's getting larger as it gets closer to the sun. But that's the size of the whole entire object. No one knows the size its nucleus, the actual rock (or whatever it is). It's coma/aura/halo is an extremely thick, massive, super bright and reflective cloud of dust, ice, and gasses. It's tail got massively long all of a sudden, too. Just weeks ago, it was so short, they hesitated to call 3I/ATLAS a comet.

Their guessing the nucleus is between 0.32 and 5.6 kilometers in diameter. That's some range, right?...because they can't see the dang thing.

It's going to be close enough to a couple of ESA/NASA probes to get better data and maybe even photos next month. But we have no idea how 3I/ATLAS will react when it gets close to our sun's plasma in a week or two.
 
Murrmurr said:
Made me think of the movie Don't Look Up, about two astronomers attempting to warn humanity about an approaching comet that will destroy human civilization, and no one listens.
Click to expand...
An unusually good movie. I was able to buy a copy for myself. At the time, it was not readily available, but I wanted that in my collection.
 
As for the "thing" coming our way, I hope it doesn't hurt us. I doubt that it has intentions, however. While the Universe is made up of mostly boring empty space. It's big enough to host a lot of different kinds of things. Although it's rare, at least by human standards, things do bump into each other.
 
Murrmurr said:
I got it right. And they're saying it's getting larger as it gets closer to the sun. But that's the size of the whole entire object.
Click to expand...


I see, I should have realized you were talking about the Tail's various lengths, not the actual diameter.
 
ohioboy said:
I see, I should have realized you were talking about the Tail's various lengths, not the actual diameter.
Click to expand...
No, I am talking about the diameter of the object, which includes it's coma (aka aura, aka halo), the ball of debris around a rock (probably). Basically, the round part. And with 3I/ATLAS, the cloud of stuff around it is usually opaque.

The tail is measured separately.
 
Last edited:
JustDave said:
As for the "thing" coming our way, I hope it doesn't hurt us. I doubt that it has intentions, however. While the Universe is made up of mostly boring empty space. It's big enough to host a lot of different kinds of things. Although it's rare, at least by human standards, things do bump into each other.
Click to expand...
Some astronomers believe it is a chunk off a planet that was impacted by something either very large or extremely dense. Others believed it was part of a sun that exploded until space probes analyzed it's make up. And it's make up isn't like anything they've seen before. But our newest telescopes can see a lot more and a lot farther.
 
Last post before 3i disappears from view (from earth) for a while.

It's an excellent video; sane from beginning to end.
Worth 16 minutes of your time, if you're interested in this object.



3i traveled an incredibly long distance to vacation on the deadly solar beaches of our sun.
I'm anxious to find out how it fares.
 
Images of 3i/ATLAS were captured while it was behind our sun (in perihelion), but NASA and others haven't (yet) released the images, which should be very sharp and detailed because they were taken by crafts designed for image-capture.

Meanwhile, the object was not effected as expected during perihelion; it didn't melt or become more gaseous, it's speed increased, and it stayed on course, so the sun's gravity didn't slow it down or change its trajectory as scientists expected.

 
The 13 anomalies of 3i/ATLAS that are puzzling scientists.

1. Its retrograde trajectory is aligned to within 5 degrees with the ecliptic plane of our solar system; a likelihood of 0.2%.

2. It displays a sunward jet (anti-tail) that is not an optical illusion from geometric perspective, as with familiar comets. Also unlike familiar comets, its anti-tail is ridiculously long.

3. Its nucleus is probably about a million times more massive than the first interstellar comet we’ve observed, Oumuamua, and a thousand times more massive than the second one, Borisov, while moving faster than both; a likelihood of less than 0.1%.

4. The timing of its arrival will bring it to within tens of millions of kilometers from Mars, Venus and Jupiter, and was not observable from Earth at perihelion; a likelihood of 0.005%.

5. Its gas plume contains much more nickel than iron with a nickel-to-cyanide ratio that is orders of magnitude larger than that of all known comets, including Borisov; a likelihood below 1%.

6. Its gas plume contains only 4% water by mass, a primary constituent of familiar comets.

7. It shows extreme negative polarization, unprecedented for all known comets, including interstellar comets; a likelihood below 1%.

8. It arrived to within 9 degrees from the direction of the Big Ear radio telescope’s “Wow! Signal” received in 1977; a likelihood of 0.6%.

9. Near perihelion, it brightened faster than any known comet and was bluer than the Sun; never previously observed.

10. It exhibits both a sunward tail and an anti-tail, requiring an unreasonably large surface area in order to absorb sufficient sunlight to sublimate sufficient ice to feed the mass flux of both tails simultaneously.

11. Near perihelion, its nearest point to the sun, 3i/ATLAS exhibited non-gravitational acceleration, which should have required massive evaporation of at least 13% of its mass, however, images indicate that the object maintained its integrity and did not break up as it should have.

12. Its tightly-collimated jets (parallel light rays that travel in the same direction with minimal spreading) are maintaining their orientation across a million kilometers in multiple directions relative to the Sun despite the object’s measured rotation.

In other words, several jets of dust and water are shooting straight out from 3i-ATLAS in all directions, and maintain their positions and arrow-straight trajectories despite the object rotating.

13. All comets we have observed contain hydroxyl (O) and cynogen (CN). 3i/ATLAS contains neither, but it is emitting the xray signatures that require the presence of O and CN.

So, it’s probably incorrect to categorize 3i-ATLAS as a comet, but clearly, it isn’t a typical asteroid.

Japan’s Osiris Rex mission proved asteroids carry what scientists labeled “the seeds of life”; RNA, components of DNA, amino acids, and sugar. Since we're not certain what it is, scientists are now wondering if 3i/ATLAS carries “seeds of life” from a planetary system that is billions of years older than ours; the organic materials that are the basic building blocks of life far outside our galaxy; life we may be completely unfamiliar with; alien life.
 

I've been thinking about Jupiter's gravitational pull also, and whether or not it will effect 3i/ATLAS's trajectory or speed, or both. It would be awesome if 3i became one of Jupiter's moons and we could study it for many years, but apparently, scientists are betting that won't happen. It's traveling too fast and will be too distant as it passes Jupiter.

In only 2 days, on Dec 18th, 3i/ATLAS will be observable from Earth for about a month.
 
Murrmurr said:

I've been thinking about Jupiter's gravitational pull also, and whether or not it will effect 3i/ATLAS's trajectory or speed, or both. It would be awesome if 3i became one of Jupiter's moons and we could study it for many years, but apparently, scientists are betting that won't happen. It's traveling too fast and will be too distant as it passes Jupiter.

In only 2 days, on Dec 18th, 3i/ATLAS will be observable from Earth for about a month.
Click to expand...

Following as a reminder. I might get lucky and see it.

I THINK I saw a portion of the Geminid Meteor Shower a few days back, when I happened to look out the window.
 
Last edited:
Imogene said:
Following as a reminder. I might get lucky and see it.

I THINK I saw a portion of the Geminid Meteor Shower a few days back, when I happened to look out the window.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the meteor shower was visible from here, especially on the 13th and 14th. Michelle and I took my grandson out to a remote area and watched it.

He's really into sky-watching, and he's got a pretty decent telescope with a built-in camera. He didn't bring it with him, though, because he's already got it all set up for 3i/ATLAS...on his buddy's roof.

Tomorrow night! (y):geek:
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top