Chinese Probe Monitors Mysterious Comet 0 20

The orbital spacecraft of the Chinese Mars exploration mission "Tianwen-1" successfully conducted observations of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. This was reported by the Xinhua news agency, citing the press service of the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The probe observed using its high-resolution camera while being approximately 30 million kilometers away from the object. This makes it one of the closest probes conducting observations of 3I/ATLAS.

Data obtained and processed by the ground application system revealed distinct features of the comet in the images. Researchers created an animation from a series of shots taken over 30 seconds, demonstrating the object's movement in space. These observations are now being used for further scientific study of 3I/ATLAS.

As noted by the CNSA, the detection of such a faint celestial object serves as a valuable technical test for the Chinese mission "Tianwen-2." It was launched in May with the aim of collecting samples from a near-Earth asteroid and studying a main-belt comet.

3I/ATLAS is an interstellar object with cometary properties. It was first discovered on July 1. Astrophysicist Avi Loeb from Harvard University and some other scientists suggest that this object may be an extraterrestrial spacecraft, as it possesses some anomalous characteristics.

Scientists have determined that this is a comet from another star system. Its coma (the cloud of gas and dust surrounding the nucleus) has a diameter of about 24 kilometers. According to a computer model created by specialists, the object's age exceeds seven and a half billion years. It is three billion years older than the Sun. According to scientists, this may be the oldest comet ever observed.