Comet 3I/ATLAS will be at the minimum distance from Earth on the morning of December 19th.

The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, passing near the Earth, will be at the minimum distance from the planet on Friday, December 19, early in the morning. This was announced on December 16 in the Telegram channel of the Laboratory of Solar Astronomy of the Institute of Physics and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"The 3I/ATLAS object is now only three days away from the point of minimum approach to the Earth, which makes it possible to determine the time of this approach with great accuracy. According to calculations, the celestial body will pass at the minimum distance from the planet on December 19 at about 7 a.m. Moscow time," the message says.

From the moment of rendezvous, the distance between 3I/ATLAS and the planet will remain almost unchanged — about half a million km — during the week from December 16 to December 22. Then the object will begin to move away from the Earth rapidly.

At the moment, 3I/ATLAS ranks third in brightness among comets, but it will require a professional telescope to observe it. The location of the object can be determined through online applications with maps of the starry sky, as well as by such bright stars as Arcturus, Sirius and Procyon. The closest star to the object's location will be Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo.

Alien object 3I/ATLAS will approach the Earth any day now.: what is it and is it dangerous?

On December 1, NASA's TESS space telescope discovered 3I/ATLAS, which is considered by a number of theories as a possible alien spacecraft, almost two months before it was officially registered by astronomers. The telescope, which has been operating in orbit since 2018, recorded the object's movement between May 7 and June 2, 2025, 55 days before the official announcement of the discovery.

Astronomer, popularizer of astronomy and cosmonautics Alexander Kiselyov announced on November 29 that the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS will be as close to Earth as possible on December 19 — about 270 million km, after which it will leave the vicinity of the planet again.

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