Our solar system’s third discovered interstellar visitor, comet 3I/Atlas , will dip into the glare of the Sun this week, leaving the detective work on this object to spacecraft far from Earth.

The NASA -funded ATLAS survey telescope in Chile first observed the comet on July 1, and since its discovery, astronomers have been busy studying this mystery object.

According to NASA, 3I/ATLAS will remain visible to ground-based observatories until the end of September. After that, it will be too close to the Sun to observe. After it disappears behind the glare of the Sun, it will reappear in early December for more ground-based observations.

The comet is expected to make its closest pass of the Sun on Oct. 30, at a distance of about 130 million miles, inside the orbit of Mars.

While 3I/Atlas i

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