3I/ATLAS. That is the name scientists have chosen for an interstellar stellar object that is hurtling towards the centre of our solar system at a speed of about 221,000 kilometers per hour, or 61 kilometers per second.
Current projections say the 'interstellar object', only the third known of its kind, is set to do a fly-by of Mars in October this year.
The object, NASA says, "is the third known object from outside our solar system to be discovered", adding that when the orbit of 3I/ATLAS is traced, it clearly originates from outside our solar system.
However, it reassures that the comet will pose no threat to Earth.
The closest it will approach our planet is about or 270 million kilometers, although it will find itself just inside the orbit of Mars.
Not much else is known about the latest visitor, with its size and physical properties being fervently investigated by astronomers around the world.
However, based on its brightness, 3I/ATLAS appears to be bigger than the previous two stray comets, which are thought to have entered our solar system from a different region of the Milky Way.
Oumuamua: A first of its kind visitor that Harvard astronomers labelled 'alien'
Oumuamua, spotted in 2017, was the first confirmed object from another star to visit our solar system.
Since its discovery, scientists found themselves at odds when it came to explaining its unusual features and precise origins.
Researchers first called it a comet and then an asteroid. Finally, they decided it was the first of its kind, a new class: interstellar objects.
The interstellar interloper appeared as a rocky, cigar-shaped object with a somewhat reddish hue.It had been wandering through the Milky Way, unattached to any star system, for hundreds of millions of years before its chance encounter with our star system.
Its discoverers named it Oumuamua, which in Hawaiian means "a messenger from afar arriving first".
Oumuamua was recorded as being up to 400 meters long and highly-elongated – perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide.
The object was unprecedented, so much so that astronomers from Harvard University have suggested it may have been an alien spacecraft.
Their theory was based on the object's "excess acceleration," or its unexpected boost in speed, as it traveled through and ultimately out of our solar system in January.
Borisov: The second visitor
In 2019, the second interstellar object made its way to our solar system.
The comet was discovered by amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov, and astronomers confirmed that it originated from outside of our solar system.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured images of the object streaking through the solar system at a breakneck speed of about 177,000 kilometers per hour.
Borisov was estimated to be about 3,200 feet across.
Its polarized light was uniform, making the interstellar object unique. Astronomers believe that 2I/Borisov had remained undisturbed since it formed – until it flew by our sun in 2019.
Comments