{"id":260271,"date":"2025-07-13T00:33:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T00:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/260271\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T00:33:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T00:33:14","slug":"interstellar-object-conundrum-solved-by-astronomers-in-major-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/260271\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Interstellar object’ conundrum SOLVED by astronomers in major breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"

British astronomers may have solved the mystery of an “interstellar object” hurtling towards our planet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Scientists believe the mysterious interstellar visitor may be the oldest comet ever observed.<\/p>\n

The object, designated 3I\/ATLAS or A11pl3Z, is thought to be some 3 billion years older than our solar system and represents only the third known visitor from beyond our cosmic neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

What makes this discovery particularly remarkable is the comet’s apparent origin from an unexplored region of our galaxy.<\/p>\n

\"A11pl3ZA11pl3Z, measures an estimated 12 miles in width and will pass at a ‘safe distance’ from our planet on December 17GETTY<\/p>\n

The ice-rich object appears to have journeyed from the Milky Way’s thick disc, a zone of ancient stars that exists above and below the familiar flat plane where most stellar bodies are found.<\/p>\n

This trajectory sets it apart from the two previous interstellar objects detected entering our solar system.<\/p>\n

University of Oxford astronomer Matthew Hopkins said: “All non-interstellar comets such as Halley’s Comet formed with our solar system, so are up to 4.5 billion years old.<\/p>\n

“But interstellar visitors have the potential to be far older, and of those known about so far our statistical method suggests that 3I\/ATLAS is very likely to be the oldest comet we have ever seen.”<\/p>\n

SPACE BREAKTHROUGHS – READ MORE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

PICTURED: Red lines showing the estimated orbits of 3I\/ATLAS, and yellow lines show the Sun’s in the Milky Way<\/p>\n

MATTHEW HOPKINS\/UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD<\/p>\n

The comet could date back as many as 7.5 billion years – a relic from the galaxy’s distant past.<\/p>\n

Professor Chris Lintott, the study’s co-author, said: “This is an object from a part of the galaxy we’ve never seen up close before.<\/p>\n

“We think there’s a two-thirds chance this comet is older than the solar system, and that it’s been drifting through interstellar space ever since.”<\/p>\n

The ATLAS survey telescope in Chile first detected 3I\/ATLAS on July 1 this year, when the object was approximately 670 million kilometres from the sun.<\/p>\n

\"Telescope\"\/<\/p>\n

Astronomers think stargazers across Britain will have the chance to see the extraordinary celestial traveller later this year<\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

For comparison, Earth maintains a distance of 149 million kilometres from our star.<\/p>\n

As the object approaches the sun, solar radiation will warm its icy surface, causing the release of vapour and dust that forms the characteristic luminous tail associated with comets.<\/p>\n

Astronomers also think stargazers across Britain will have the chance to see the extraordinary celestial traveller later this year.<\/p>\n

3I\/ATLAS should become visible through moderate-sized amateur telescopes during the final months of 2025 and into early 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British astronomers may have solved the mystery of an “interstellar object” hurtling towards our planet. Scientists believe the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[12,70,512,413,16,1259,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-260271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-sgg","11":"tag-space","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-uk-news","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114843117896051788","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}