Even at a glance, the planets in our solar system are wildly diverse. Huge and small, airless and densely packed with atmosphere, they have a wide range of characteristics distinguishing them. But if ...
On Friday (Dec. 19), the interstellar invader, comet 3I/ATLAS, made its closest approach to Earth, coming to within 168 million miles (270 million kilometers) of our planet at 1 a.m. EST (0600 GMT).