A deep image of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS captured by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South at Cerro Pachón in Chile, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by NSF NOIRLab. The image shows the comet’s broad coma — a cloud of gas and dust that forms around the comet’s icy nucleus as it gets closer to the Sun — and a tail spanning about 1/120th of a degree in the sky (where one degree is about the width of a pinky finger on an outstretched arm) and pointing away from the Sun. 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar visitor to our Solar System.The exposures tracked the comet as it traveled across the sky, and the final image is composed to freeze the stars in place during the observation. Two small colored trails from unrelated asteroids with a different motion from that of the comet can also be seen.These observations of Comet 3I/ATLAS were conducted during a Shadow the Scientists program hosted by NSF NOIRLab. A full recording of the session can be found here. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The cosmos has delivered a visitor, a silent, icy interloper from the darkest reaches of our galaxy, and the world's most powerful eyes are glued to its progress.
This is not a scene from a science fiction blockbuster, but the genuine, thrilling reality of Comet 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar traveller that has spent recent months touring our solar system. Its arrival has sparked a frenzy of activity among astronomers, generating a cascade of stunning imagery from nearly every satellite, space telescope, orbiter, and even the surface rovers currently operational across our cosmic neighbourhood.
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