Mon Dec 15 16:40:00 UTC 2025: Here’s a news article summarizing the information:

UN and NASA Team Up to Track Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS, Refining Comet-Tracking Techniques

NEW YORK – As the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS nears its closest approach to Earth on December 19th, a global effort led by the United Nations’ International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), coordinated by NASA, is underway to meticulously track the celestial visitor. This campaign aims to improve the precision of comet tracking and astrometry, the measurement of positions and motions of celestial objects.

Comet 3I/ATLAS will pass within roughly 167 million miles (270 million kilometers) of our planet. Telescopes around the world, including both professional observatories and citizen scientists, are contributing to the effort. The campaign is using a new astrometry technique in order to test how best to track the comet, which can be helpful for determining how to send a spacecraft to a similar comet in the future.

“The idea behind these campaigns is really to strengthen the technical capabilities for measuring sky positions for asteroids and comets,” explained James Bauer, IAWN small-bodies node principal investigator and University of Maryland research professor. He noted that while tracking comets is difficult due to their changing brightness and the variability of their coma, 3I/ATLAS is exhibiting classic comet behavior, making it an ideal candidate for this study.

The IAWN, comprised of over 80 observatories and citizen scientists, has been planning such a campaign since October, making the appearance of 3I/ATLAS a timely opportunity. The project has garnered significant interest from the scientific community, with a record number of participants contributing to the effort. A teleconference held December 9th for participants drew 100 members of the community, indicating the level of interest in this international effort.

The data gathered will be used to refine comet-tracking techniques, which are crucial not only for understanding these fascinating objects but also for planetary defense efforts, enabling more accurate predictions of the paths of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects. The IAWN expects to publish its findings in a peer-reviewed journal next year.

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