Through NASA’s Lenses: Comet 3I/ATLAS

NASA Newsletter

In this week's newsletter, take a look at comet 3I/ATLAS through the lenses of NASA's spacecraft and space telescopes; find out when and where to watch NASA astronaut Chris Williams launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft to the International Space Station; and discover the process behind NASA's Centennial Challenges, which have awarded more than $24 million to hundreds of people ranging from academics, startup founders, and small business owners from across the U.S. and 86 countries to bring bold ideas to NASA. Plus, more stories you might have missed.

SCIENCE

Through NASA’s Lenses

NASA is in the midst of an unprecedented solar system-wide observation campaign, turning its spacecraft and space telescopes to follow comet 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system. Twelve NASA assets have captured and processed imagery of the comet since it was first discovered on July 1, and several others will have opportunities to capture more images as the comet continues to pass through our solar system.

By observing the comet from so many locations, NASA has an opportunity to learn about the ways that 3I/ATLAS differs from our solar system’s homegrown comets and give scientists a new window into how the compositions of other systems may differ from our own.

COMET 3I/ATLAS

SCIENCE

Observing an Interstellar Comet

On July 1, the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, first reported observations of a comet that originated from interstellar space. Arriving from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, the interstellar comet has been officially named 3I/ATLAS. 3I/ATLAS poses no threat to Earth and will remain far away.

VIEW IMAGES

HUMANS IN SPACE

NASA Astronaut to Join Expedition 73

NASA astronaut Chris Williams will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft to the International Space Station on Thursday, Nov. 27, accompanied by cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, where they will join the Expedition 73 crew advancing scientific research. Live coverage will begin at 3:30 a.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 27.

WAYS TO WATCH

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Chemical Activity

A new analysis of data from NASA’s Cassini mission found evidence of previously undetected organic compounds in a plume of ice particles ejected from the ocean that lies under the frozen shell of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Researchers spotted new molecules that lay a potential path to chemical or biochemical activity.

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THE UNIVERSE

High-Speed Skirmish

The James Webb Space Telescope has delivered a first of its kind: a crisp mid-infrared image of four coiled shells of dust around a pair of Wolf-Rayet stars known as Apep. Observations taken prior to Webb only detected one shell, and while the existence of outer shells was hypothesized, ground-based telescopes were unable to uncover any.

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More NASA News

For 20 years, NASA's Centennial Challenges has awarded more than $24 million to hundreds of people from across the U.S. and 86 countries to bring bold ideas to NASA. In the latest episode of the Small Steps, Giant Leaps podcast, hear what it takes to design and judge these challenges, and how you can participate.

One of the biggest goals for companies in the field of artificial intelligence is developing autonomous systems that can perform tasks without a guiding human hand. This parallels the goals of the urban air mobility industry, which hopes to bring autonomous flying vehicles to cities around the world. Discover how one company got a head start on doing both with help from NASA.

About the size of a full-size pickup truck, the Sentinel-6B satellite lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in central California at 12:21 a.m. EST on Nov. 17. The newly launched satellite will provide ocean and atmospheric information to improve hurricane forecasts, help protect infrastructure, and benefit commercial activities, such as shipping.

Using data from TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and other observatories, astronomers have revolutionized our understanding of a collection of stars in the northern sky called the Pleiades. By examining the rotation, chemistry, and orbit around the Milky Way of members of several different nearby stellar groups, scientists identified a continuum of more than 3,000 stars arcing across 1,900 light-years.

After years of design, development, and testing, the X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft took to the skies for the first time on Oct. 28. The X-59, designed to fly at supersonic speeds and reduce the sound of loud sonic booms to quieter sonic thumps, took off at 11:14 a.m. EDT and flew for 67 minutes. The flight represents a major step toward quiet supersonic flight over land.

ARTEMIS

NASA Social Applications Now Open

Are you passionate about social media and communications? Do you love to create content for an audience? Are you a fan of new, unique experiences? If you said yes, this NASA Social event is for you! This is your opportunity to be on the front lines of this historic Artemis mission that will lay the groundwork for future Moon landings and crewed missions to Mars.

APPLICATION DETAILS

Do You Know?

On November 21, 1960, as NASA’s first seven astronauts were training in hopes of becoming the first astronaut to be launched into space, the agency attempted to launch the Mercury spacecraft on a Redstone rocket for the first time. The flight would be an important test in preparation for America's first human spaceflight. It didn’t go well.

Roughly how far did the rocket travel?

Find out the answer in next week's NASA newsletter! 🤓

In the previous newsletter, we asked which mission was the first to visit an asteroid. The answer? Galileo! On its way to explore the Jupiter system, the Galileo spacecraft flew by and took images of two main belt asteroids: Gaspra in 1991 and Ida in 1993. NEAR Shoemaker later became the first mission to orbit and land on an asteroid, completing these milestones in 2000 and 2001, respectively.

Do you have a telescope? Would you like to see some of the same night sky objects from the ground that Hubble has seen from space? We invite you to commemorate the Hubble Space Telescope’s 35th anniversary by accepting our yearlong stargazing challenge! New challenge objects will be featured weekly.

This week’s object is Messier 31, also well-known as the Andromeda Galaxy. Located 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda galaxy is the closest major galaxy to our own Milky Way. The galaxy is so close, that in angular size it is six times the apparent diameter of the full moon and is easily visible with the unaided eye from a dark sky site. It is impossible to say who “discovered” the Andromeda galaxy, but a documented report of the galaxy from the year 964 came from the Persian astronomer Abd al-rahman al-Sufi’s The Book of Fixed Stars.

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