Brightness of comet 3I/ATLAS decreased by 37 percent

The brightness of the interstellar comet named 3I/ATLAS has significantly decreased over the past few days. This was reported by Zamin.uz.

Previously, its brightness was at magnitude 10.1, but now this indicator has reached 10.6. This means that the comet's brightness has decreased by approximately 37 percent.

This information was announced by the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This situation seems unusual because the comet has now approached the Earth by another 10 million kilometers.

Astronomers mainly associate this decrease with the comet moving away from the Sun. The comet's brightness is related to the reflection of sunlight, and as it moves away from the star, its radiation weakens.

According to experts, the change in brightness may also be related to internal processes of the comet. For example, physical processes on the comet's surface affect its ability to reflect light.

Nevertheless, the 3I/ATLAS comet is still considered one of the brightest comets in the sky. Currently, it ranks fourth among approximately 100 observed objects.

The brightest comet remains C/2025 A6 (Lemmon), although its brightness has decreased tenfold in the past month. New images taken by astronomers show unusual changes in the tail of the 3I/ATLAS comet.

The "torn" shape of the tail indicates that it has a variable and unusual structure. The current question is whether NASA will again point its Hubble and James Webb telescopes at this comet or not.

Previously, NASA photographed this comet, but at that time it was much farther from the Sun. In the next 2-3 weeks, there will be an opportunity to safely observe the object, but NASA has not yet announced any new observation plans.