The third well -known interstellar object, 3i/Atlas, is captured at the center of this image taken by an amateur astronomer using a 20 -inch F/6.8 scope and five 20 -second exhibitions through the remote iTelescope remote image. Credit: Filipp Romanov
Takeaway Keyway:
- 3i/Atlante is an interstellar object, which means that it has originated outside our solar system.
- It is traveling extremely fast, faster than previously discovered interstellar objects.
- Scientists believe that they may have formed in a different part of our galaxy, potentially an oldest region.
- “We want to get observations as quickly as possible because at this moment the object is uncontaminated,” said Chris Lintoott.
Astronomes have identified an object outside of our sun system that is whitened towards the sun at about 150,000 mph (240,000 km/h). The large ball of ice and frozen powder has a rare possibility of studying an object that has formed around an alien solar system and potentially much earlier in the history of the Milky Way.
The object called 3i/Atlante- “3i” because it is the third interstellar object detected so far and “atlas” in honor of the telescopes system that revealed it, the last land impact alert system of the asteroid. Since the object is also showing provisional signs of comet activity, it has also been designated C/2025 N1 (Atlas).
“At the beginning, it looked like an asteroid almost close to the Verie Garden-Varie,” said Larry Denneau, astronomer at the University of Hawaii and the investigator Co-Principal Atlas. “Initially there was no indication of its interstellar origin.”
By carefully measuring its trajectory and speed, astronomers have established that 3i/Atlas must have come from beyond our solar system.
“The normal gravitational attraction in the sun cannot produce something so quickly,” said Denneau. It is possible that objects are blocked at higher speeds if they bring close approaches to the planets, but “if you restart its trajectory, we do not see planetary encounters”.
A rare interstellar object
Astronomes previously detected only two objects from the interstellar space: 1i/ʻoumuamua and 2i/Borisov.
3i/Atlas is moving much faster than one of the previously detected objects and is also approaching a different direction in the galaxy – near its center, in the Sagittarius Constellation. “This suggests that it could have originated in a very different environment,” said Chris Lintoott, astronomer at the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the discovery.
The trajectory and the speed of the object suggest that 3i/Atlante may have come from our galaxy Disco often: a more ancient stellar population surrounding the thinnest disc where our sun resides. The stars and other disk objects often often have different chemical compositions compared to those of our neighborhood, which suggests that the object can be richer in ice and water.
Scientists are also trying to define the size of the object, which is proving to be.
“With just a couple of days of observations, we discussed if it seems bright because it is great – perhaps from 10 to 20 kilometers in width – or because it is showing the first signs of comet activity,” said Lintoott. It could be a material to lose a sweat around it, making it bigger than it really is. “Now it seems the latter,” he said.
While 3i/Atlas travel closer to the sun, it can develop in an active comet in all respects, which would allow scientists to study the gas that will come out of the surface and perhaps see the surface itself. “You can guess some things about the composition based on color,” said Lintoott.
Time is essential. “We want to get observations as quickly as possible because at this moment the object is uncontaminated,” said Lintoott. “But he will be cooked while making his way to the sun”, making his approach closest to October. He will venture just inside the orbit of Mars, remaining well outside the earth’s path.
Unsolved mysteries
Some of the most compelling things in the interstellar object can be forever out of reach, including its exact origins. “The dream is that we would like to be able to trace an interstellar object to a particular star,” said Lintoott. “But they may have wandered for billions of years, so it’s not so simple.”
While their stories can be dark, the prospects for the study of these visitors with interstellar space are bright.
From the discovery of the first interstellar visitor, “Eumuamua,” everyone is working much more hard to find them and we have established tools to quickly establish an orbit and mobilize observers teams to characterize them “, said Karen Meech, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii who played a key role in analyzing analysis”. And, he added, when the Observatory of Vera C. Rubin begins his survey on the southern sky at the end of this year, “it is likely that the frequency of the discovery is significantly increasing”.
