James Webb Telescope CONFIRMS 3I/ATLAS Is Far Bigger Than We Thought — And Every NASA Mission Agrees
Astrune
9,380 views
Deep within the clean rooms and control consoles of the Space Telescope Science Institute, flight controllers pointed the James Webb Space Telescope toward an intruder hurtling out of Sagittarius at one hundred thirty-seven thousand miles per hour. That hyperbolic trajectory marked 3I/ATLAS as a traveler from beyond our sun, but its true scale remained shielded behind an impenetrable shroud of glowing dust. By piercing that brilliant coma with infrared instruments, Webb exposed the hidden solid nucleus beneath, confirming a behemoth far exceeding the dimensions of both 1I/’Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. Fleetwide observations from Hubble, Mars orbiters, and solar probes corroborated the startling size estimate. Here is the full breakdown of how multi-mission astronomy resolved the physical heart of this ancient nomad, the physics behind measuring alien comets, and what its massive proportions reveal about the hidden population drifting through interstellar space.
#JWST #3IATLAS #InterstellarComet #Astronomy #NASA
8 Comments
James Webb Telescope CONFIRMS 3I/ATLAS Is Far Bigger Than We Thought — And Every NASA Mission Agrees
Astrune
9,380 views
Deep within the clean rooms and control consoles of the Space Telescope Science Institute, flight controllers pointed the James Webb Space Telescope toward an intruder hurtling out of Sagittarius at one hundred thirty-seven thousand miles per hour. That hyperbolic trajectory marked 3I/ATLAS as a traveler from beyond our sun, but its true scale remained shielded behind an impenetrable shroud of glowing dust. By piercing that brilliant coma with infrared instruments, Webb exposed the hidden solid nucleus beneath, confirming a behemoth far exceeding the dimensions of both 1I/’Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. Fleetwide observations from Hubble, Mars orbiters, and solar probes corroborated the startling size estimate. Here is the full breakdown of how multi-mission astronomy resolved the physical heart of this ancient nomad, the physics behind measuring alien comets, and what its massive proportions reveal about the hidden population drifting through interstellar space.
#JWST #3IATLAS #InterstellarComet #Astronomy #NASA