00:00Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers captured the clearest image to date of the unexpected interstellar comet 3I Atlas.
00:12Astronomers are now able to more precisely estimate the size of the comet's solid icy nucleus.
00:19Its estimated diameter is no bigger than 3.5 miles across, but potentially as small as 1,000 feet across.
00:28Hubble captured a dust plume ejected from the sun-warmed side of the comet and the hint of a teardrop-shaped dust hail streaming away from the nucleus.
00:38This behavior is similar to that of previously seen sunbound comets originating within our solar system.
00:45The big difference is that this mysterious visitor came from an ancient and unknown realm of our Milky Way,
00:51launching from an undetermined star system long ago and far away.
00:57In what may be the final chapter in its space odyssey, 3I Atlas is plunging toward the sun at a staggering 130,000 miles per hour.
01:07This is the highest velocity ever recorded for a solar system visitor.
01:12The comet's astonishing speed suggests it has traversed interstellar space for billions of years.
01:19The comet gained speed due to the gravitational slingshot effect of the stars and other objects it encountered.
01:26The longer 3I Atlas traveled through interstellar space, the faster it moved.
01:31Hubble observations suggest that comet 3I Atlas was likely expelled from a developing planetary system.
01:39This occurred as icy bodies aggregated within an outer disk or ring surrounding a star,
01:45further supporting the idea that such outer belts are common in planet-forming systems.
01:51Another possibility is that 3I Atlas is just a fragment of a small icy planet that came too close to a white dwarf star,
02:00disintegrated under the stress of gravity and sent its shards cannonballing back into space.
02:063I Atlas is an icy fossil from a time perhaps before Earth even existed.
02:13If 3I Atlas has wandered among the stars for nearly half of the Milky Way's age,
02:18it could provide insights into the history of our galaxy and the processes behind our solar system's formation.
02:25Comet 3I Atlas will make its closest approach to the Sun in October 2025,
02:32but don't worry, it won't be anywhere near Earth.
02:35NASA's assets, including Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope,
02:40the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, and the Swift Observatory,
02:44will closely monitor the comet to measure its chemical composition as the Sun's heat further sublimates its ices.
02:52Should it survive the perilous journey near the Sun,
02:55the chances of 3I Atlas experiencing another close encounter with a star are incredibly remote.
03:02It's also possible that 3I Atlas, like many fragile comet nuclei approaching the Sun,
03:08could break apart or disintegrate into dust, bringing its existence to an end.
03:13Before 3I Atlas entered the picture, we detected two other interstellar visitors,
03:181I Oumuamua in 2017 and comet 2I Borisov in 2019.
03:25With numerous advanced observatories now scanning the skies,
03:29we should find many more interstellar objects visiting our solar system.
03:33Each new discovery offers astronomers valuable insights into both our own solar system and the distant universe beyond.
03:41The space that мире has been simply multiplied over the horizons,
03:43we just wrapped up in the itscast,
03:443
03:54will take all 30 records it up to 2M vivo flight.
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