We are being visited from beyond the solar system. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 Pablo Carlos Budassi

Astronomers have identified what is thought to be the third ever example of an object from a distant solar system.

The object, which has been named 3I/ATLAS, was revealed on July 1st following its discovery by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) – a robotic astronomical survey which uses multiple telescopes to scan the night sky for small near-Earth objects.

Exactly where the mysterious visitor originated remains unclear, but right now it is hurtling through our solar system at 152,000 mph and has a very unusual flat and straight trajectory – prompting speculation by some that it could be under intelligent control.

Measuring around 12 miles across, the object is currently situated around 4.5 times further away from the Sun than the Earth and will reach its closest approach (around 1.4 Earth-Sun distances) on October 30th before then passing relatively close to Mars.

It will pass close to the Earth again on its way back out of the solar system, but NASA astronomers have assured the public that it will not pose any danger to our planet.

Due to the relatively short time it will be within observation distance, astronomers are now rushing to learn as much as possible about 3I/ATLAS before it heads back off into interstellar space.

It is thought that there could be many more interstellar visitors racing through our solar system at any given time.

The true number of these cosmic travelers, however, continues to remain a mystery.

Source: Live Science | Comments (4)