An alien visitor passing through our solar system has made its waya failed approach to Mars earlier this month, and two European robotic spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet.need to look.
3I/ATLAS is truly an alien visitor from another solar system somewhere in the galaxy. This is a comet that was thrown away from its parent star, possibly due to a close encounter with a giant planet like Jupiter.
It then traveled through interstellar space for billions of years, was pulled into our solar system by the gravity of our Sun, and now passes by it before continuing its journey, never to return.
In fact, its trajectory suggests it may be the oldest comet ever discovered, making it potentially older than our solar system, which is 4.6 billion years old.
The object will not come dangerously close to Earth, but on October 3 it passed within 30 million kilometers of Mars. Two European Space Agency robots currently in orbit around Mars, Exomares And Mars Expresswere in a better position to take 3I/ATLAS images and discovered the fuzzy orb. – known as coma – with a short tail.
This suggests that the object is like a comet with the ice and dust it emits.they are heated by the sun.
Further analysis after it approaches the Sun on October 30 should determine what these ices are made of and whether they are similar to the icy comets that orbit our Sun.
WATCH | NASA spacecraft observes interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS approaching Mars:
This is the third time an interstellar object has been seen passing through our solar system since 1I/Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.
Every time the arrival of an alien object is announced, speculation arises that it could be alien spaceships that are either passing us by, completely uninterested in us, or are here to deliver some kind of message.
The idea is partly taken from a 1973 science fiction novel. Date with Rama Arthur C. Clarke, which follows the adventures of astronauts who catch up with a giant alien spaceship on a similar trajectory to discover what or who is inside.
Until now, despite the fact thatsome people on tThe Internet says there is no indication that 3I/ATLAS is a spacecraft. It doesn't reflect light like a metal object, it doesn't emit any signals, and the spacecraft won't emit a huge cloud of ice and dust (unless it tries to camouflage itself).
Of course, it would be much more interesting if the object were an alien spaceship, but it is still worth studying it as much as possible in the short time that it is in our vicinity.
These interstellar objects are like free missions to the stars, where we can find out whether the same processes that formed our solar system are happening throughout the Milky Way.
To take an even closer look, the European Space Agency plans Comet Interceptor mission in 2029 it will try to approach an as yet unknown interstellar guest. it comes from a place far, far away and a long time ago.
