Scientists Say Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Won't Be Visible During Near Pass
The object is already near a minimum distance of about 271 million kilometers, with the December 19 closest-approach date defined mathematically.
Overview
- Official labs report a visual magnitude around 11–12, which is far too faint for unaided viewing.
- Observing even the compact core requires a telescope with at least a 120 mm aperture and user experience.
- Capturing images typically involves stacking hundreds of exposures and processing them with specialized software.
- Its distance will change by only about 1% (roughly 3 million km) over the next week, it will appear to linger for two to three days, then it will move away toward Jupiter.
- 3I/ATLAS is the third known interstellar small body; separate media relay speculative claims from Avi Loeb about unusual emissions and potential risks that have not been verified by official observers.