The Interstellar Visitor Hurtling Toward the Center of Our Star System Is Unimaginably Ancient, Scientists Say
Astronomers recently confirmed that a mysterious object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, came from interstellar space and is now blowing through the solar system at extremely high speeds.
It's only the third confirmed interstellar object to have reached our star system, following 'Oumuamua, which was spotted in 2018, and a comet dubbed 2I/Borisov, which was identified in tk.
Now, scientists are racing to better understand 3I/ATLAS and whether it can shed more light on the nature of interstellar objects like it.
In an op-ed for Space.com, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor astrophysicist Aster Taylor and Michigan State University professor of physics and astronomy Darryl Seligman argue that 3I/Atlas appears to be a comet, much like 3I/Borisov, suggesting "comet-like interstellar objects are far more common than exotic ones like 'Oumuamua."
Thanks to its tremendous speed of around 134,000 mph relative to the Sun, the two researchers assert that "ATLAS is far older than either 'Oumuamua or Borisov — around 3-11 billion years old."
That's because "the influence of the galaxy tends to speed up objects over time," they wrote.
In other words, 3I/ATLAS may indicate that the Milky Way has been producing interstellar objects since close to its creation, some 13 billion years ago.In fact, it could easily be older than our own Sun, which is around 4.6 billion years in age.
"We can even begin to determine the distribution of these objects and infer the population of the still-unseen planets that must have ejected them into interstellar space," the op-ed reads.
Scientists traced back its trajectory to the center of the Milky Way. But how it got here remains a mystery. Experts have suggested it may have formed as a comet around a star, or it was ejected by a passing star from its home system.
We don't even know with any degree of certainty how big it is. 2I/Borisov's comet tail measured almost 100,000 miles, according to estimates, while 'Oumumua itself was only between 330 to 3,300 feet long.
Unlike 'Oumuamua, which was discovered extremely late in its journey, making it incredibly difficult to study, 3I/ATLAS still has some ways to go as it screams through our solar system.
Best of all, thanks to NASA's James Webb and Hubble space telescopes, we could soon have a much closer look, potentially revealing its "size, composition, spin, and how it reacts to being heated for the first time," Taylor and Seligman wrote.
Even the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, whose first light images were released mere weeks ago, could be used to investigate the curious visitor. The observatory has already catalogued more than 2,000 previously unknown asteroids.
However, what could greatly complicate these efforts is the Trump administration's plan to deal a devastating blow to NASA's science directorate. The White House proposed slicing the agency's science budget roughly in half, an existential threat that undermines dozens of important missions and thousands of jobs.
"At a time when federal science funding is under threat, we are fortunate for the striking example of 3I/ATLAS," Taylor and Seligman wrote. "The public interest in this object and the sense of wonder that it brings can help renew public and political commitment to space science."
"In 3I/ATLAS, we see both the promise of astronomy and the importance of continuing its funding," they concluded.
More on the object: Mysterious Object Headed Into Our Solar System Is Coming From the Center of the Galaxy
