Astronomers recently discovered an interstellar comet is making its way through our solar system.
It is only the third confirmed interstellar object that has entered our neighborhood.
Alerts notified astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey, a planetary defense operation with the University of Arizona, that a new object was detected and had been logged by NASA telescopes.
But the math didn’t work out. It was moving too fast to be from our own solar system, at about twice the speed that the Earth orbits the sun.
“This thing is going so fast, there is no possible way for the sun to pull it back to an orbit," said Carson Fuls, director of the Catalina Sky Survey.
His job is to detect asteroids and other objects that might impact Earth. Fortunately, Fuls said we don’t have to worry about that with the comet dubbed 3I/Atlas.
“It comes just inside the orbit of Mars. Doesn't get that particularly close to Mars, but it gets close to its orbit before heading back out again, never to return to our solar system," Fuls said.
He says the comet is similar to ones we see in our solar system, which can reveal secrets of planetary development.
"That tells us that the common formation mechanism of these objects is common across star systems, right? And if that's true, then maybe the formation of planets like the Earth is also common across other star systems," Fuls said.
New estimates believe the comet is 3 billion years older than our own solar system, but is made of similar components to our own comets. Fuls says it should be visible to backyard telescopes in November.
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