Ready for a stellar surprise? 🚀 The Hubble Space Telescope just delivered its sharpest-ever snapshot of 3I-Atlas, a high-speed comet that's zooming into our solar system all the way from another star!
Spotted last month by a Chilean telescope, 3I-Atlas is only the third interstellar object ever recorded. Don’t worry—it poses no threat to Earth! 🌍
Early estimates thought its icy core could span tens of kilometers. But thanks to Hubble’s eagle-eye, astronomers now know the nucleus is no bigger than 5.6 kilometers—maybe even as compact as 320 meters, roughly the length of three Eiffel Towers stacked end to end! 🗼❄️
Even Hubble can’t see the solid heart of the comet directly, but its powerful lens captured a teardrop-shaped cloud of dust hugging the nucleus, plus a wispy tail trailing behind.
3I-Atlas is blazing through space at a mind-boggling 209,000 kilometers per hour. It’ll swing closer to Mars than Earth, giving our planetary neighborhood a safe cosmic show. When Hubble snapped the shots, the comet was a cool 446 million kilometers away—talk about long-distance photography! 📸✨
For young stargazers and space fans, this interstellar visitor is a reminder of how vast and mysterious our universe truly is. Keep your eyes on the skies—who knows which cosmic traveler will drop by next? 🌌
Reference(s):
Hubble telescope takes sharpest-ever image of an interstellar object
cgtn.com
