Solar Orbiter will pass through the tail of comet ATLAS
Solar Orbiter will pass through the tail of the "dead" comet ATLAS. The apparatus for studying the sun will allow you to study a strange space object that began to fall apart.
Astronomers hoped to study a comet named ATLAS during its passage through our solar system, but in April it began to decay. However, NASA and the European Space Agency have a unique opportunity to take a closer look at this object. It turned out that the Solar Orbiter automatic spacecraft, which studies the Sun, will be just in the way of the comet and will pass through its tail in a few weeks.
Solar Orbiter can pass through the outer layers of the tail of the ATLAS debris on either May 31 or June 1, and by June 6 it will fall into the stream from the remains of cometary dust.
As soon as the Solar Orbiter comes in contact with the comet, instruments designed to study ionized particles in the atmosphere of the Sun will get a complete picture of how comets or their debris ionize the space around.
According to experts, it is surprising that the trajectories of Solar Orbiter and ATLAS so coincided. The astronomer had no such chances before.
“If the Solar Orbiter instruments detect the remains of ATLAS comet, this will be the first predicted random intersection of the comet’s tail with an active spacecraft and the corresponding instruments for detecting cometary material,” the researchers write in their article.
Astronomers hoped to study a comet named ATLAS during its passage through our solar system, but in April it began to decay. However, NASA and the European Space Agency have a unique opportunity to take a closer look at this object. It turned out that the Solar Orbiter automatic spacecraft, which studies the Sun, will be just in the way of the comet and will pass through its tail in a few weeks.
Solar Orbiter can pass through the outer layers of the tail of the ATLAS debris on either May 31 or June 1, and by June 6 it will fall into the stream from the remains of cometary dust.
As soon as the Solar Orbiter comes in contact with the comet, instruments designed to study ionized particles in the atmosphere of the Sun will get a complete picture of how comets or their debris ionize the space around.
According to experts, it is surprising that the trajectories of Solar Orbiter and ATLAS so coincided. The astronomer had no such chances before.
“If the Solar Orbiter instruments detect the remains of ATLAS comet, this will be the first predicted random intersection of the comet’s tail with an active spacecraft and the corresponding instruments for detecting cometary material,” the researchers write in their article.
