According to scientists, mysterious interstellers found by astronomers last week could be the oldest comet.
The name 3i/Atlas can take 3 billion years from our solar system, and the team of Oxford University suggests.
It is only the third to detect objects that have crossed the solar system.
Preliminary results were presented at the Royal Royal Astronomy Association meeting held in Durham on Friday.
Oxford University astronomer Matthew Hopkins told the BBC News, “We are all very excited about 3i/Atlas, and he has completed his Ph.D. when the target was found.
He says he can be over 7 billion years old and can still be the most notable interstellar visitors.
3i/Atlas was first discovered on July 1, 2025 by the Atlas Survey telescope in Chile, about 660 million km in the sun.
Since then, astronomers around the world have been racing to identify the path and find more details.
HOPKINS thinks it started with the ‘thick disc’ of the Milky Way. This is an ancient group group that turns on orbit from the area where the sun and most of the stars are located.
The team believes that 3i/Atlas is probably formed around an old star, so it consists of a lot of ice.
In other words, as the sun approaches the sun at the end of this year, the energy of the sun heats the surface of the object, causing steam and dust to burn.
It can make a brilliant tail.
Researchers used the model developed by Hopkins to create research results.
Professor Chris Lintott, a co -author of this study, said, “This is part of the galaxy we have never seen before.
“We think that this comet has two -thirds of the opportunity to be older than the solar system, and since then, we have been drifting through interstellar space.”
At the end of this year, you should be able to see 3i/Atlas on Earth using an amateur telescope.
I only saw two other people before 3i/Atlas rose. One was called 1i/’Oumuamua, found in 2017, and the other was called 2i/borisov found in 2019.
Astronomers are starting to use new and powerful telescopes in Chile, Vera C Rubin worldwide.
At the end of this year, if you start to fully investigate the night sky in the southern part of the year, scientists expect to find 5-50 new interstellar objects.
