The Hubble Space Telescope has captured its clearest images yet of 3I-Atlas, a high-speed interstellar comet visiting our solar system.
Released by NASA and the European Space Agency on Thursday, the comet, discovered last month by a telescope in Chile, is only the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system.
Astronomers initially estimated its icy core at several miles across, but Hubble’s observations refined this to no more than 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometres), potentially as small as 1,000 feet (320 metres). Scientists confirm the comet poses no threat to Earth.
The comet is hurtling our way at 130,000 mph (209,000 kph), but will veer closer to Mars than Earth, keeping a safe distance from both. It was 277 million miles (446 million kilometers) away when photographed by Hubble a couple weeks ago. The orbiting telescope revealed a teardrop-shaped plume of dust around the nucleus as well as traces of a dusty tail.
