Stellar Fellars
Take this press conference of NASA space nerds talking to the public about 3I Atlas and inject it into my veins. The panel included a guy who is the lead scientist for "Solar System Small Bodies in the Planetary Sciences Division". Imagine having a great job title like that. I'd be printing it on all the business cards and stationary I could.
The biggest takeaway from the event was, "Sorry, it's just a comet. No alien invasion this time." I hope folks that are disappointed by that don't miss out on the fact that it's still pretty dang cool to see a comet from outside our solar system.
The graphic below that was shared during the NASA livestream shows where we are in relation to the comet. Not even within waving distance they say, as it will still be 170 million miles away when it reaches its closest point on December 19th.
Better luck time time. (Or should I say worse luck?) The Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) only just picked this thing up in July. So who knows what else is out there, careening towards us this very minute?
I would feel only lightly more comfortable if there were an ATFAS
ReplyDeleteYou mean a First Alert System as opposed to a Last Alert, LOL. OMG. Good point!
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