Mystery interstellar object could be the oldest known comet

A mystery interstellar object identified last week by astronomers could be the oldest comet ever seen, according to scientists.

Appointed 3i / Atlas, he can be three billion years more than our own solar system, suggests the University of Oxford team.

It is only the third time that we detect an object that comes from beyond our solar system.

The preliminary conclusions were presented on Friday at the national meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society of the Royal in Durham.

“We are all very excited by 3i / Atlas,” said the University of Oxford astronomer Matthew Hopkins, in BBC News. He had just finished his doctoral studies when the object was discovered.

He says it could be more than seven billion years, and it may be the most remarkable interstellar visitor to date.

3i / Atlas was spotted for the first time on July 1, 2025 by the Atlas survey telescope in Chile, while it was about 670 million km from the sun.

Since then, astronomers around the world are running to identify their path and discover more details on this subject.

Mr. Hopkins thinks he is from the “thick disc” of the Milky Way. It is a group of ancient stars that orbit above and below the area where the sun and most stars are located.

The team believes that because 3i / Atlas probably formed around an old star, it is made up of a lot of water ice.

This means that when approaching the sun later this year, the energy of the sun will heat the surface of the object, leading to flames of vapor and dust.

It could create a brilliant tail.

The researchers achieved their results using a model developed by Mr. Hopkins.

“This is an object of part of the galaxy that we have never seen closely,” said Professor Chris Lintott, co-author of the study.

“We think there is a two -thirds chance that this comet is older than the solar system, and that it derives from the interstellar space.”

Later this year, the 3i / Atlas should be visible from the earth using amateur telescopes.

Before 3i / Atlas went up to vogue, two others had been seen. One was called 1i / ‘Oumuamua, found in 2017 and another called 2i / Borisov, discovered in 2019.

Astronomers around the world are currently preparing to start using a new very powerful telescope in Chile, called Vera C Rubin.

When he begins to fully investigate in the Southern Southern Ciel later this year, scientists expect he can discover between five and 50 new interstellar objects.