Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will shine in our solar system for the rest of the year before disappearing forever. (Image credit: ESA/Las Cumbres Observatory)
The astronomical community is excited by the recent discovery of an “interstellar object,” which is only the third such object ever observed and which is currently moving towards us through the solar system.
Now the race is on to study this alien interloper, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, before it leaves us forever.
“We only have one chance to see this object, and then it’s gone forever,” Darryl Seligman, an astronomer at the University of Michigan and lead author of a new paper on the object, told Live Science. “So we’re trying to gather as much information as we can from all of our observatories.”
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Experts say the 3I/ATLAS study could provide information about other star systems and the process of exoplanet formation, and perhaps we can trace its origin.
Initial discovery
Sourse: www.livescience.com
