Greenbelt, Maryland – Di Hubble Space Telescope just capture the juiciest picha of di interstellar comet wey dem dey call 3I/ATLAS. Dis latest waka happen for July 21, 2025, when di comet dey cool 277 million miles from Earth. E fine no be small (if person wan see true beauty for space, na Hubble dem suppose check!).
Di sharp images wey Hubble snap show say di comet get dis teardrop-shaped dust cocoon wey dey come off from im solid, icy nucleus. Di scientists don dey try figure out how big dis nucleus be – dem talk say e fit dey as large as 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) or as small as 1,000 feet (320 meters) across. Na wah! (Dis one fit make anybody wan open cosmic measuring tape).
First, na di NASA-funded ATLAS wey discover di comet on July 1, 2025, when e dey a whopping 420 million miles from di Sun. Dem dey call ATLAS, di asteroid warning system wey come from University of Hawai’i. E no be joke o, dis ATLAS don sabi wetin dey for space since, plus e dey always look for objects wey fit land for Earth like say dem dey play hide and seek.
Di comet dey move like speed demon, zipping through di solar system at 130,000 miles (209,000 kilometers) per hour. E just dey run like e dey try catch bus wey don dey leave! Dis impressive speed show say 3I/ATLAS don dey drift through interstellar space for billions of years (talk about a journey!).
As di comet dey jam stars and nebulae for di space, dem dey give am extra momentum, making am faster. Na so e dey komot for one part of our galaxy come enter di solar system. But where dis comet come from? Na di big question wey scientists dey ask. As David Jewitt from di University of California, Los Angeles, talk, “Dis one be like say you see bullet fly pass for a second, you no fit trace am back. Dis comet na real mystery!”
Hubble dey work hand in hand with oda NASA missions like di James Webb Space Telescope and di Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite to gather more gist about di comet – from im chemical make-up to di way e dey behave like comets wey we don sabi before. Hubble even catch dust plume wey comot from di Sun-warmed side of di comet plus di hint of a dust tail wey dey stream away from di nucleus.
Hubble don display im cosmic talent for over 30 years, and e still dey shake di astronomy world. Na wetin give scientists di ability to better track and understand this new interstellar neighbor. Di comet 3I/ATLAS go still dey visible for ground-based telescopes through September before e go pass too close to di Sun.
In summary, dis interstellar visitor na one from a whole different cosmic hood! Astronomers don dey excited say dem don finally cross di threshold of discovering more like 3I/ATLAS as powerful sky survey capabilities don come to play.
