NASA’s live photo-release event, hosted at the Goddard Space Flight Center, is streaming on NASA+, YouTube, X, and Amazon Prime.
Event link (NASA+): https://plus.nasa.gov/
The comet is currently on a hyperbolic orbit, ensuring it will eventually exit our solar system. By Dec. 19, 31/ATLAS will make its closest approach to Earth at about 170 million miles, roughly twice the distance between Earth and the Sun.
A Rare, High-Speed Visitor from Beyond the Sun
When first discovered, 31/ATLAS was traveling at 137,000 mph, accelerating to 153,000 mph as it neared the Sun. Now slowing as it moves outward, it will eventually return to interstellar space at the same velocity with which it entered.
Ground observations from Chile’s Gemini South telescope and orbital snapshots from two Mars spacecraft provide a multi-angle view of the comet’s structure, tail activity, and mass loss during its perihelion.
