3I/ATLAS

3I/ATLAS : Recently, scientists using the ATLAS survey telescope in Chile announced the detection of a new interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS.

o This marks just the third recorded instance of an interstellar object passing through our solar system, after 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.

• About 3I/ATLAS : An active comet, showing a coma (dust & gas halo) and likely forming a tail.

o Appears reddish, with a spectral slope of 1.3% per 100 nm, hinting at complex organics or water ice.

o The nucleus is likely 10–30 km wide, larger than both ʻOumuamua and Borisov.

o Believed to be over 3 billion years old, possibly older than our solar system.

• Identified It as Interstellar because : Follows a hyperbolic, highly elliptical orbit around the Sun.

o Travels at an extremely high velocity of 57–68 km/s relative to the Sun.

o Trajectory simulations trace its path back to the constellation Sagittarius, indicating it came from outside our solar system.

• NASA has confirmed it poses no danger to our planet.
• About ATLAS : An asteroid impact early warning system developed by the University of Hawaii and funded by NASA. It consists of four telescopes (Hawaii ×2, Chile, South Africa), which automatically scan the whole sky several times every night looking for moving objects.

  o Objective: To detect and track small to medium-sized asteroids on collision courses with Earth, giving time to evacuate or respond if necessary.

  o Key Features and Capabilities: Wide-Field Coverage: Each ATLAS Capable of detecting 100-meter asteroids days to weeks before impact and smaller ones hours to days ahead