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Spacecraft on watch as an interstellar traveler approaches Mars
['Joel Odom', 'Jodom Oregonian.Com', 'The Oregonian Oregonlive']
oregonlive.com
(NSF's NoirLab via AP) APSeveral spacecraft are on watch this week as an interstellar traveler approaches Mars.
The word closest is relative here, since the comet will still be 18 million miles away from the red planet.
After passing by Mars, 3I/ATLAS will make its closest approach to the sun in late October, at a distance of 126 million miles.
Earth’s average distance from the sun, by comparison, is about 93 million miles.
The comet’s closest brush with Earth will come in mid-December, when it gets as close as 167 million miles away.