Astronomers have found something mysterious as they capture the first images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS hurtling towards the sun at 130,000 mph.
Scientists working with James Webb Space Telescope are trying to learn all they can about the extremely rare comet which they discovered in July.
It is the third confirmed interstellar comet ever recorded, and is giving researchers the perfect opportunity to study it as it hurtles past our sun in October.
Using near-infrared technology, the comet’s physical properties can be deciphered based on the light it emits.
It is estimated the comet is around 3.5 miles wide, making it one of the largest interstellar objects ever seen.
They have also found the comet is whizzing along at 130,000 mph in an unusually flat and straight line, giving it the highest velocity recorded of an interstellar object.
This suggests the comet has been on the move for billions of years, being slingshotted by gravitational pull
One study has also suggested it is around 3 billion years older than 4.6 billion-year-old solar system.
The imaging has revealed the comet has developed a carbon dioxide atmosphere, or coma.
This could be due to where the comet was formed near the CO2 ice line of the swirling gas from which it was formed.
The researchers wrote: ‘Our observations are compatible with an intrinsically CO2-rich nucleus, which may indicate that 3I/ATLAS contains ices exposed to higher levels of radiation than Solar System comets, or that it formed close to the CO2 ice line in its parent protoplanetary disk.’
It is unclear where the comet came from.
David Jewett, a scientist at the Hubble observations, said: ‘It’s like glimpsing a rifle bullet for a thousandth of a second.
‘You can’t project that back with any accuracy to figure out where it started on its path.’
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