Interstellar Comet Three-Eye Slash Atlas Tracked by NASA's Psyche Mission Ahead of Closest Approach to Earth

17/12/2025 2 min
Interstellar Comet Three-Eye Slash Atlas Tracked by NASA's Psyche Mission Ahead of Closest Approach to Earth

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Episode Synopsis

NASA's Psyche mission is actively tracking the interstellar comet three-eye slash atlas as it makes its closest approach to Earth on December nineteenth. NASA's science dot gov reports that this rare visitor from outside our solar system, the third such object discovered here, offers a prime chance for observation with dark skies, especially since it reappears after swinging around the sun in early December. Multiple NASA spacecraft, including Psyche, are coordinating data collection on its trajectory and composition before it departs.Meanwhile, skywatchers across the United States can catch the Geminid meteor shower peaking on December thirteenth and fourteenth, potentially delivering up to one hundred twenty meteors per hour under ideal conditions, according to NASA's December skywatching tips. On December seventh, a striking conjunction brings the Moon and Jupiter close in the eastern sky, appearing side by side despite their vast separation of hundreds of millions of miles.In New Orleans, the American Geophysical Union meeting from December fifteenth to nineteenth draws top planetary scientists, including teams from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. They are presenting breakthroughs like reanalyzed Voyager two plasma data from Uranus and Neptune, revealing magnetosphere details for future missions, and studies on Uranus's steadily collapsing exosphere since the Voyager era. Other highlights include dust analyzer designs for a proposed Uranus orbiter and probe, alongside research on cosmic dust from near the sun to Europa and the Kuiper Belt.On Mars, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured its one hundred thousandth photo of the Red Planet on December seventeenth, as reported by space dot com, showcasing ongoing surface monitoring from orbit. The United States Geological Survey and NASA also announced a new Landsat Science Team on December seventeenth to guide the longest-running Earth observation program through two thousand thirty.These events signal robust United States leadership in planetary science, from interstellar tracking and outer planet reanalysis to relentless Mars imaging, amid preparations for missions like EscaPADE to Mars orbit. Emerging patterns highlight intensified focus on interstellar objects and ice giant atmospheres, building toward deeper solar system exploration.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.aiThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

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