Comet 31/Atlas Caught By Portland, Oregon Man On Its Way Out

Published 01/03/26 at 8:25 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Portland, Oregon) – The comet 31/Atlas has left the building. (Photo of Comet 31/Atlas, courtesy Patrick Finney)

Well, almost. And it's our regional space that it's heading out of rather than any building.

The mysterious comet trekked its way this summer through our solar system, from some distant place beyond it, and racking up the honor of being only the third extra-solar visitor we've encountered. Its actual size is still – if you'll pardon the pun – up in the air a bit.

It was discovered back in the summer and now it's on its way out after making a bit of a show in late December.

Most photos of the interstellar interloper really came from larger telescopes, although some started to come from smaller smart telescopes in November.

Patrick Finney

Yet one Portland, Oregon man caught one good shot of it right at the beginning of the new year. Practically from his backyard. Patrick Finney has managed to snap a few interesting stellar objects in recent years. Oregon Coast Beach Connection featured his shots of comet Lemmon and comet KT / Atlas. This one – though a tad blurry – is especially spectacular. You can almost feel the thing whizzing away.

How did Finney capture these? Using a ZWO SeeStar S50.

“This is a smart telescope, meaning it has GPS tracking, and can find the object you want to see,” Finney said. “It also has edit features and filtering, to enhance imagery. All imagery is viewable on your cellphone via SeeStar’s downloadable app.”

He said it's quite compact and works well with deep space objects.

It wasn't easy. He only caught it in one photo and it managed to show the separation of the nucleus and tail, Finney said. There's not a lot of photos that show that.

31/Atlas was at its closest approach to Earth back on December 19, at 270 million km or 1.8 AU.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reobserved interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Nov. 30, with its Wide Field Camera 3 instrument. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, D. Jewitt (UCLA), M.-T. Hui (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory). Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)

“Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third object in history from outside of our solar system to be discovered within our solar system,” NASA said.

NASA reported the discovery this summer, made via the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado. Then it was about 420 million miles away, named 31/ATLAS, having come from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.

31/ATLAS was mostly only visible with powerful telescopes – and unfortunately something the Pacific Northwest and areas along the Washington or Oregon coast weren't able to see with the naked eye.

Yet Finney in Portland, Oregon, caught it on its way into “the black” - as one legendary sci-fi show put it.

STEREO-A (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft. The colorization was applied to differentiate the image from other observing spacecraft images. NASA/Lowell Observatory/Qicheng Zhang

Now that the comet is heading back out from the Sun, its velocity is slowing as expected under the Sun’s gravitational influence. It had sped up considerably as it approached, but by the time it exits the solar system, it will be moving at essentially the same speed it had upon arrival.

NASA scientists say that as the comet approaches the Sun, rising temperatures cause its ices to sublimate and release gas. This outgassing can introduce minor forces that produce very small shifts in its path. It seems to be doing just as they predicted.

Oregon Coast Hotels in this area - South Coast Hotels - Oregon Coast Vacation Rentals - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours

 

 

Lincoln City's Coho Oceanfront Lodge Continues Pushing Boundaries on Oregon C...
Plenty of perks - a kind of upscale without all of that price tag. Lincoln City lodging, hotel reviews, Gleneden Beach

Yachats' Adobe Resort: Legacy Oregon Coast Biz, Once a Motel, Shifts Again wi...
Started in the 1950s, now a big name gets bigger. Yachats lodging reviews

Manzanita Hotel Review: Oregon Coast Inn Gets New Life as Forest Getaway, New...
Nehalem River Inn is nearly 100 years old. Nehalem Hotel Review

Manzanita Hotel Review: Oregon Coast Inn A New Hotel
Nehalem River Inn is nearly 100 years old. Nehalem Hotel Review

More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging.....

More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining.....

Washington Coast / Oregon Coast Articles (stories are random: hit reload to see different articles)

Newport Police Investigate Two Stabbings and a Shooting Near Oregon Coast's Highway 101
A man was shot as he was allegedly stabbing his second victim

Oregon Coast Town Looks at Possibility of Life Out There with Yachats Event
Jan 11 at the Yachats Commons examines the moon Europa. Yachats events

Sneaker Wave Alerts From S. Oregon Coast to Central Washington Coast - 16-ft Seas Possible
High tides will worsen it Friday; even higher waves are possible. Weather

UPDATED: Sneaker Wave Alerts and High Surf Advisories for North Oregon Coast, Washington Coast
From Florence to the very edges of Washington. weather

Arch at Neptune Beach Near Yachats: Rising and Falling of Oregon Coast Landmark
A small beauty that changes height at times between Florence and Yachats

Two Incidents Today on Oregon Coast: Body Recovery at Devils Churn, Plane Crash Near Yachats
No ID released on the body; no one seriously hurt in the plane crash. Safety, weather

Monks and a Mandala - An Extraordinary Weekend at Central Oregon Coast's Yachats
Tuesday, February 17, through Sunday, February 22, at Yachats Commons. Yachats events

S. Oregon Coast Rescue Yields Spectacular Helicopter Photos - Bandon
A man having a mental crisis climbed to the top of a dangerous rock. Beach safety

Back to Oregon Coast

Contact Advertise on Oregon Coast Beach Connection
All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright © Oregon Coast Beach Connection. Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted