Astrophotographer braves -30°C to photograph comet 3I/ATLAS

Novosibirsk astrophotographer Alexei Polyakov captured comet 3I/ATLAS. He published the images in his Telegram channel.

The space object 3I/ATLAS sparked a storm of discussions on social media — some believe it is an alien spacecraft. NGS learned from the astrophotographer what makes the comet remarkable and why it should not be feared.

According to Alexei Polyakov, the object is primarily interesting because it does not belong to our Solar System. The comet was ejected from where it formed and, although this is not rare, its age is remarkable — according to preliminary estimates, it is older than seven billion years. Our Solar System is 4.5 billion years old.

“Unfortunately, the information space has been taken over by astrologers, tarot readers, numerologists who started suggesting that it is aliens. It gets to the point of being ridiculous — on ‘Channel One’ they made a program where, mostly, they gave the floor not to scientists, but precisely to these people,” clarifies the NGS interlocutor.

He noted that this is a quite ordinary comet, in which there is nothing terrible or ominous.

The photos were taken 65 kilometers from the city. The filming was not easy — it had to be carried out in -30°C (-22°F) frost. All because of clouds that covered the sky for a month and a half.

“We were given, essentially, one night. Tomorrow clouds will fly in again, until the next -20 to -30°C (-4 to -22°F). We have to work in completely inhuman conditions. After a few hours in the frost, the telescope burns hands even through gloves — the metal is so cold,” explains Alexei.

In addition to the comet, a Boeing 757-2Q8 that was flying from Novosibirsk to Vietnam got into the frame. During the filming, it reached an altitude of 6,400 meters (21,000 feet). The astrophotographer learned about this through ‘Flightradar’.

In the frames, the aircraft«s engine and strobe lighting are clearly visible, which, at first glance, may appear to be a star.

Alexei added that a piece of matter is flying past us that is almost twice as old as our Earth.

Earlier, the astrophotographer captured the ‘California’ Nebula — published a mesmerizing frame.