"At roughly 06:00 GMT, 3I/ATLAS reached its closest point to Earth, coming within 168 million miles (270 million km) of our planet. To put that into perspective, that is still nearly twice the average distance between Earth and the sun. The comet is now whizzing towards Jupiter, where it will make a relatively close pass of the gas giant at a distance of 33 million miles (53 million km) on March 16, 2026."
"In 2028, the interstellar object will travel beyond the last of the planets as it shoots by Neptune at 137,000 miles per hour (221,000 km/h). Astronomers predict that the comet will reach the orbit of Pluto in April 2029, before striking out into the outer reaches of the solar system. Finally, 3I/ATLAS will wave goodbye to our stellar neighbourhood as it returns to interstellar space sometime in the mid 2030s."
3I/ATLAS reached its closest approach to Earth at roughly 06:00 GMT, coming within 168 million miles (270 million km). Discovered on July 1 by the NASA-funded ATLAS telescope in Chile, trajectory analysis showed the object arrived from outside the solar system. It is the third confirmed interstellar visitor after 1I/ʻOumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019). Scientists estimate 3I/ATLAS formed around a distant star about eight billion years ago. The comet will pass Jupiter at about 33 million miles (53 million km) on March 16, 2026, then cross the outer planet orbits and depart to interstellar space in the mid-2030s.
Read at www.dailymail.co.uk
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