Mystery interstellar object could be the oldest known comet
According to scientists, a mysterious interstellar object that was seen by astronomers last week may be the oldest comet ever seen.
3I/Atlas, called the team of Oxford University proposes.
We’ve detected an object that comes beyond our solar system for the third time.
Preliminary findings were presented on Friday at the national meeting of the Royal Astronomy Association in Durham, England.
“We are all excited by 3 of us/Atlas, Mat Matthew Hopkins, astronomer of Oxford, told BBC News. He said. When the object was discovered, he had just finished his doctoral studies.
He says he might be more than seven billion and he can still be the most remarkable international visitors.
3i/Atlas was first found on July 1, 2025 by the Atlas Surves telescope in Chile, about 670 million km from the sun.
Since then, astronomers from all over the world have been competing to determine the path and discover more details.
Bay Hopkins believes that the Milky Way is caused by the ‘thick disc’. This is a group of ancient stars in orbit above and below the area where the sun and most stars are located.
The team believes that 3I/Atlas is probably around an old star, consisting of too much water ice.
This means that as the sun approaches the sun later this year, the energy coming from the sun will heat the surface of the object and lead to flames of vapor and dust.
This can create a shining queue.
Researchers made their findings using a model developed by Bay Hopkins.
“This is an object from some of the galaxy that we’ve never seen closely before, Prof.
He continued: “We think that this comet is older than the solar system and has been dragged in the international field since then.”
Later in this year, 3i/Atlas should be seen from the Earth using amateur telescopes.
Before 3i/Atlas appeared, only two people were seen. 1i/’Oumuamua, the other 2i/Borisov, which was found in 2017, was discovered in 2019.
Globally, astronomers are currently preparing to start using a new, very powerful telescope called Vera C Rubin in Chile.
Later in this year, when the South Night Sky completely began to explore the sky, scientists expect that they can explore 5 to 50 new interstellar objects.
