A new study has attempted to pin down the properties of interstellar comet 3I/Atlas, finding it is “anomalously massive” at around 33 billion tons. On July 1, 2025, astronomers spotted an object moving through the Solar System at nearly twice the velocity of previous interstellar visitors ‘Oumuamua and Comet Borisov. The object, which was confirmed to be an interstellar comet …
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Right now, our solar system is hosting a friendly (it is friendly, right?) visitor from far, far away. But it turns out, it’s also visiting from long, long ago, and that makes our friend (it is a friend, definitely) even more exciting for scientists to study. In terms of what we can learn from …
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Fast-moving objects like interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS may be planet-forming seeds, potentially helping to solve an old Solar System mystery. On July 1, 2025, astronomers spotted an object moving through the Solar System at nearly twice the velocity of previous interstellar visitors ‘Oumuamua and Comet Borisov. The object, which was confirmed to be an interstellar comet with its own dusty coma, …
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Press enter or click to view image in full size (Credit: anash.org) My day started with an uplifting message from the brilliant Professor Smadar Naoz who was an Einstein Postdoctoral Fellow in my research group and currently holds the Preston Chair in Astrophysics at UCLA: “Dear Avi, Shanna Tova to you and your loved ones. May this be a year …
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Images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS snapped during the September 7 total lunar eclipse seem to suggest that the latest visitor to the Solar System may be turning green. That’s not all that strange for a comet. Many Solar System comets give off a green glow when they heat up enough to emit vapor. However, for 3I/ATLAS, it might be quite …
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Images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS snapped during the September 7 total lunar eclipse seem to suggest that the latest visitor to the Solar System may be turning green. That’s not all that strange for a comet. Many Solar System comets give off a green glow when they heat up enough to emit vapor. However, for 3I/ATLAS, it might be quite …
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Astronomers have obtained new images of the mysterious interstellar object 3I/ATLAS that reveal a new feature: the fastest comet ever observed has now grown a tail. The new observations add to the growing body of evidence that supports 3I/ATLAS’s identity as an interstellar comet, amid speculations that include whether the object could represent a probe or other technological artifact produced …
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Astronomers have a new theory about planetary formation, and it revolves around one mysterious concept: interstellar visitors. No, not little green men, but rather deep-space wanderers like the peculiar comet 3I/ATLAS discovered this summer. A new study presented by professor Susanne Pfalzner of Forschungszentrum Jülich at the Joint Meeting of the Europlanet Science Congress and the Division of Planetary Sciences …
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The bright light at the center is the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (Credit: noirlab.edu/ CC-BY-SA-4.0/ Wikipedia Commons) A rare comet from another star system is speeding through our solar system, giving astronomers a unique chance to study an interstellar visitor up close. Named 3I/ATLAS, it is only the third such object ever confirmed. It joins Oumuamua, which appeared in 2017, and …
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Objects such as ‘Oumuamua, Borisov and recently 3I/ATLAS have opened our eyes to the reality that outsiders regularly visit our solar system — and we’re about to start spotting a whole lot more of them. 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar object currently zipping through the solar system, is capturing the attention of astronomers, the public and even most of our deep space …
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