Get your telescope ready: 3I/ATLAS comet swings by Earth early Friday morning

Explaining the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS

We are learning more tonight after NASA says they have discovered an interstellar comet that’s wandered into our own backyard. The quick-moving object was spotted by NASA with the ATLAS telescope in Chile over the summer. Ken Gayley is an astronomy professor at the University of Iowa. He joins LiveNOW’s Austin Westfall to answer questions about the online conspiracies that suggest 3I/ATLAS might be an artificial object or even a probe from another civilization.

Grab your telescopes (if you have one) tonight as the fascinating 3I/ATLAS comet makes its closest approach to Earth. 

As the comet slowly makes its way out of the solar system, it will pass by our blue marble early Friday morning. 

By the numbers:

The comet should get within about 168 million miles from Earth, according to Earthsky.org.

The backstory:

Scientists have been tracking the comet’s grand tour of our solar system since it was discovered in July. 

READ MORE: NASA 3I/ATLAS comet update: ‘It’s a window into another solar system’

FILE - NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reobserved interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Nov. 30, with its Wide Field Camera 3 instrument. (NASA) 

Can you see 3I/Atlas with a telescope?

Yes, it is possible to see 3I/Atlas with ground-based telescopes, NASA said, now that it has re-appeared on the other side of the Sun and will be at its closest position near Earth. Stargazing apps can point you where to look. 

What is the 3I/ATLAS comet? 

Big picture view:

The object known as 3I/ATLAS was discovered this summer after it entered our solar system from elsewhere in the galaxy. It got its name because it is the third interstellar object known to have visited our solar system (3I), and because ATLAS was the telescope in Chile that discovered the object. 

What we know:

The interstellar object had been believed to be a comet — which NASA confirmed Wednesday, despite several internet theories about it being alien technology. 

What they're saying:

"This object is a comet. It looks and behaves like a comet, and all evidence points to it being a comet. But this one came from outside the solar system, which makes it fascinating, exciting, and scientifically very important," NASA associate administrator, Amit Kshatriya, said in November.

"We love that the world wondered along with us" what it was, said Dr. Nicky Fox, the associate administrator with NASA Science. 

What we don't know:

The exact nature and make-up of 3I/ATLAS remains unclear. And it’s also not known where exactly it came from, though scientists believe it may have originated in a star system much older than ours.