Comet 3I/ATLAS speeds away in Nov 18 livestream

Stay tuned on November 18th for detailed telescopic views of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS as it rapidly moves from our solar system toward the Sun, courtesy of a livestream hosted by the Virtual Telescope Project.

The Virtual Telescope Project's YouTube livestream will begin at 11:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on November 18th (04:15 GMT on November 19th) and will feature live views of Comet 3I/ATLAS, weather permitting, from the organization's array of robotic telescopes located in Manciano, Italy. This event was originally scheduled for November 16th but was delayed due to bad weather.

Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered earlier this year on July 1st, and based on analysis of its trajectory, it was immediately confirmed to be the third interstellar object to approach our solar system. This interstellar comet recently made its closest approach to the Sun, what astronomers call "perihelion," on October 30th and recently passed behind our parent star.

Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project, captured a stunning image of Comet 3I/ATLAS on November 11th, revealing this interstellar invader's bright central coma and long, smoke-like ion tail being carried away by the solar wind.

3I/ATLAS can currently be seen rising above the eastern horizon in the hours just before dawn from mid- to late November, passing through the stars of the Virgo constellation.

With an estimated magnitude (or brightness) of +10.9, 3I/ATLAS is too dim to be seen with the naked eye, though a small backyard telescope will be able to see its bright central coma as a faint speck of scattered light against the sharp points of distant stars.