Manoa, Hawaii (KHON2) \u2014 A new discovery from a University of Hawaii-operated telescope is turning heads in the astronomy world.<\/p>\n
Download the free KHON2 app for iOS<\/strong><\/a> or Android<\/strong><\/a> to stay informed on the latest news<\/p>\n A massive object from outside the solar system is passing through, but the world is not in danger.<\/p>\n It is a rare visitor, astronomers said it is only the third known interstellar object ever discovered. It was detected by a University of Hawaii-operated telescope in Chile, part of the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).<\/p>\n Astronomers track object that may have originated outside the solar system <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThese are really rare so far. It\u2019s only the third one ever. There\u2019s, you know, a million and a half known asteroids and there\u2019s about 30, 35,000 near Earth objects,\u201d said ATLAS astronomer Larry Denneau.<\/p>\n The object \u2014 now officially named 3I\/ATLAS \u2014 is believed to be up to 12 miles wide, much larger than either Oumuamua or Borisov, the two interstellar objects found before it. It is currently hurtling toward the sun at more than 150,000 miles per hour.<\/p>\n Pentagon report explores possibility of alien ship visits <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s how we know it\u2019s interstellar, right? So, there\u2019s no way that an object that\u2019s orbiting the sun can produce that kind of velocity through the gravitational attraction of the sun,\u201d Denneau said.<\/p>\n 3I\/ATLAS will pass between Earth and Mars sometime in October, but there is no danger of a collision.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so occasionally they find these very rare interstellar things. But in terms of impact risk, we\u2019re more worried about things, that come from within our own solar system,\u201d said UH Manoa Institute for Astronomy associate astronomer Roy Gal.<\/p>\n Scientists believe the object is likely a comet and could become more active as it nears the sun, it will not be visible to the naked eye but telescopes around the world are lining up to observe it.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re exotic in that they\u2019re a rare find since they come from outside the solar system. We don\u2019t know what they\u2019re going to be made of. And so a lot of the telescope proposals that are coming up want to try to study this really carefully to find out, does it have the same stuff that we find in our solar system? We\u2019ll learn something from that,\u201d Denneau said.<\/p>\n The discovery comes as the field of astronomy faces growing uncertainty. Federal funding cuts have already impacted major projects, including Hawaii\u2019s proposed Thirty Meter Telescope.<\/p>\n