The object, possibly the most bulky one that has been observedhe was baptized as 3I/Atlas and classified as kite by him Minor planets of the International Astronomical Union (UAI).
Its appearance “suggests that you are mainly ice compound rather rock“, Explained to AFP Jonathan McDowell, astronomer from the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysics Center.
According to the planetary defense manager of the European Space Agency (ESA), Richard Moissl, There is no risk to collide with the Land.
“It will fly deeply in the solar systemsimply passing in the orbit of Mars“, At an estimated speed of up to 60 km per secondthat is, more than 200 thousand km per hour, Moissl declared AFP.
He also said, his career indicates “that It is not in orbit around the sunbut it comes from interstellar space And he will return there. ”
The object was detected on Tuesday by a Chilean observatory as part of the ATLAS PROJECT of monitoring of asteroidsfinanced by the US Space Agency POTthe American astronomer wrote David Rankin On the social network Bluesky.
Astronomers professionals and fans from around the world later sought the data registered by the telescopes to rebuild his career since June 14.
The size of the object has been calculated in 10 to 20 km in diameterbut it could be less if it is composed of icewhich reflects more light.
“It’s going to be done increasingly bright And I know It will approach the sun Until the end of Octoberand will still be observable (with telescope) until next year, ”said Moissl.
It is about Third interstellar object detected by the humanityas confirmed by astronomers on Wednesday night.
The first, called Oumuamuawas detected in 2017, and the second, 2i/Borisov, in 2019.
Oumuamua It was an object so strange that at least An outstanding scientist came to convince himself that it was a alien shipalthough later investigations denied this hypothesis.
An unusual opportunity
There is no reason To suspect a Artificial origin in the case of 3I/Atlasbut teams around the world are working quickly To answer questions clue About his Form, composition and rotation.
Mark Norrisastronomer of the University of Central Lancashire (United Kingdom), told AFP that the new object seems to “move considerably faster than others Two extrasolar objects that we discover previously ”.
Currently, the object is approximately at the same distance as Jupiter of the Landaccording to Norris.
Norris mentioned models that estimate that there could be up to 10,000 interstellar objects wandering by the Solar system At one point, although most would be smaller than the newly discovered object.
If this is true, the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory In Chile it could begin to detect these faint interstellar visitors every month, Norris said.
Moissl said It is not feasible Send one Space mission To intercept the new object.
Even so, these visitors offer scientists a unusual opportunity To study something out of our solar system.
For example, if we detected Life precursors as amino acids In one of these objects, that would reinforce “ours trust that conditions For life exist in other stellar systems“Norris said.
There’s a New Interstellar Comet in the Neighborhood!
Known As 3i/Atlas, This Cut Poses No Threat to Earth – But It Does provides Rare Opportunity to Study An Object that Originated Outside of Our Solar System: https://t.co/7ihcihi91t pic.twitter.com/2xt3nrycoz
– NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) July 2, 2025