3I/ATLAS: A highly hyperbolic comet
(Astronomical images)
Labeled using it's provisional designation: C/2025 N1 (ATLAS) North is up. 0.35 arcseconds/pixel.
- Color: 25 minutes (51 * 30 seconds, none during astro-dark)
- Equipment: C9.25, ASI533 MC (IMX533 OSC), EQ6-R mount.
This was a bad night for shooting a magnitude ~17.5 object, with the moon and thin clouds … but considering what the weather’s like at my place, I didn’t know if I’d get another chance.
This comet is interesting because it’s fast, moving at around 72 km/s at the time of taking this photo. For reference, Jupiter orbits at a similar distance with speed of around 13 km/s. That puts the comet at over 3 times escape velocity, much too fast for it to have simply fallen in from the outer solar system like most similar objects.
So far, this is the third object discovered on a high-speed flyby of the solar system, hence the 3I designation. (3rd Interstellar)
Raw stacks: 32-bit RICE compressed FITs