Overview
- ESA confirms the closest approach on December 19 will occur on the far side of the Sun about 270 million kilometers from Earth with no impact risk.
- Gemini North/NOIRLab analyses estimate a nucleus roughly 20 kilometers across, larger than the previous interstellar visitors 1I/ʻOumuamua and 2I/Borisov.
- The object is traveling at about 250,000 kilometers per hour on a hyperbolic trajectory that will carry it out of the Solar System after perihelion.
- ALMA observations report methanol and hydrogen cyanide in the comet’s coma, which is extremely tenuous and poses no danger to people.
- Viewing requires large telescopes and dark skies shortly before sunrise in the eastern sky, as the comet is faint and expected to fade.