Harry is a U.K.-based senior staff writer at Live Science. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal behavior and paleontology.
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Newly discovered comet 'Lemmon' may be visible to the naked eye this month — but it will look more like a limeJames Webb telescope finds 'remarkable' evidence that a black hole plowed through a galaxy, leaving an enormous scar behind New observations reveal that 3I/ATLAS may be turning blue. This image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in August, was captured using a colored filter and does not represent the comet's current appearance.while hidden behind the sun, new observations reveal. This is the third time that experts have noted a potential change to the comet's color — but, so far, none of them have stuck., more than 7 billion years ago. Since then, it has sailed through interstellar space, before making its current rendezvous with our solar system.at the start of October, the interstellar comet has spent the last few weeks on the opposite side of the sun to Earth, making it largely unobservable from our planet . But it is now starting toI watched scientists view the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in real time. Here's what they saw.The comet reached its closest point to the sun, known as perihelion, on Oct. 29, when it was mostly hidden from us, reaching a minimum distance of 130 million miles from our home star — around 1.4 times farther from the sun than Earth. The day before, a pair of researchers analyzing data from spacecraft that could still see 3I/ATLAS revealed that the comet had brightened by several orders of magnitude after disappearing from view, which can't be fully explained by its proximity to the sun., the researchers also wrote that the comet appears to be"distinctly bluer than the sun," which came as a surprise given that this color had not been seen in the comet until now. This color change is likely the result of a specific gas, such as carbon monoxide or ammonia, leaking from the comet, they argued. This photo, taken by astrophotographers Michael Jäger and Gerald Rhemann, showed 3I/ATLAS with a green glow on Sept. 7.The researchers noted that the blue coloration is in sharp contrast to the initial red hue given off by the comet during early observations in July, which was likely the result of an abundance of dust coming off its surface. Then, in September, the comet brieflyBut these changes of coloration were only temporary, and it's currently unclear why that is. Only time and continued observations will tell if the comet's new coloring will stick.Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors Over the next few weeks, the comet will become increasingly visible to stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere as it moves northward in the night sky. However, it will not be visible to the naked eye, meaning you will need a Early images of 3I/ATLAS taken from the International Gemini Observatory showed the comet as a giant rainbow in the night sky. However, this was a result of the filters and timelapse technique used to photograph it.3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to our planet on Dec. 19, coming within a minimum distance of 168 million miles — around 1.8 times the Earth-sun distance. Between now and then, researchers will get a much better look at the comet, enabling them tomay have been transformed by billions of years of cosmic ray bombardment, potentially making it harder to track the material of its home star system.in disguise. However, there is no solid evidence to support this theory, and most experts maintain that the object is behaving exactly as a comet should. Harry is a U.K.-based senior staff writer at Live Science. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal behavior and paleontology. His recent work on the solar maximum won"best space submission" at the and was shortlisted in the"top scoop" category at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence in 2023. He also writes Live Science's weeklyNewly discovered comet 'Lemmon' may be visible to the naked eye this month — but it will look more like a lime On Saturn's largest moon, water and oil would mix — opening the door to exotic chemistry in our solar system 'As if a shudder ran from its brain to its body': The neuroscientists that learned to control memories in rodents
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