Astronomers say that comet 3i/atlas rushing to the solar system is much larger than it was thought before

1:14 Hubble made this image of an interstellar comet 3i/Atlas on July 21, 2025, when the comet was at a distance of 277 million miles from Earth. NASA

The interstellar object, which rushes to the inner part of the solar system where the Earth is located is much larger than previously thought, astronomers say.

A comet called 3i/Atlas probably weighs more than 33 billion tons, Astrophysicist from Harvard Av Loeb said on Thursday.

Swing made this observation after studying trajectory of traffic The facility moving at a speed is comparing the total weight loss rate and the outflow rate from its surface using the data obtained by the Webb space telescope on August 6.

According to Leb, the diameter of the comet’s nucleus is probably exceeding 3.1 miles, which is the largest among the other two interstellar objects registered earlier.

On August 6, the James Webb Space Telescope watched the 3I/Atlas interviewed comet on August 6 with its near -infrared spectrograph. NASA

The comet is likely to consist mainly of carbon dioxide, and in its coma – a long gas atmosphere of a comet – found a large amount of carbon dioxide, and in its nucleus – water ice.

The comet was first discovered in July due to the data collected by the last warning system of collisions with an asteroid to Earth, or atlas, a system of early warning of collisions with asteroid in Riourtado, Chile, which is funded by NASA.

According to NASA, the interstellar object that arose in the interstellar space was noticed as it moved quickly through the solar system after arriving from the Director of the Constellation of the Sagittarius.

This image shows the observation of a comet 3i/ATLAS when it was opened on July 1, 2025. The Atlas Financing Telescope Finished NASA for the first time reported that the comet was coming from the interstellar space. Atlas/Hawaiian University/NASA

According to astronomers, the comet does not pose a threat to the earth. However, according to Leba, her unusual trajectory will probably bring her closer to Jupiter, Mars and Venus.

Earlier this month, the SIB wrote that 3i/Atlas would come to the orbit of Mars at a distance of only 1.67 million miles on October 3.

This is only the third case in history when the interstellar object enters the inside of the solar system.

In 2017, an interstellar object in the form of a cigar called “Oumamua” was discovered, which means “scout”.

Hubble made this image of an interstellar comet 3i/Atlas on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 277 million miles from Earth. NASA

The object called “21/Borisov” – a comet, which probably departed from another star system – was discovered in 2019.

According to NASA, after September 3I/Atlas will be too close to the sun to stay visible. But it is expected that it will appear again on the other side of the sun in early December.

The Leb published his conclusions in the article on Wednesday. She has not yet been reviewed.

Soures: abcnews.go.com