Artistic rendering of 'Oumuamua, the first detected interstellar asteroid. ESO / M. Kommesser

A large interstellar object will approach Earth this autumn

It travels at nearly 68 km/s and will pass near Mars and the Sun later this year

E.P.

Jueves, 3 de julio 2025, 12:10

The NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) discovered the third interstellar object traversing the Solar System on July 1st.

Initially named A11pl3Z, it is estimated to be about 20 kilometers in diameter, much larger than Oumuamua and Borisov, the two known interstellar objects.

According to the ESA, this object is being tracked by telescopes worldwide and is speeding towards the inner Solar System. It travels at nearly 68 km/s and will pass near Mars and the Sun later this year.

The International Astronomical Union has already catalogued the object as a comet, designated 3I/ATLAS, and it may contain clues from another star system. Pascal Lee, a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute, mentioned on his X account that it is already in Jupiter's orbit. Its closest point to the Sun is expected on October 29th, and its closest point to Earth will be on October 30th at 1.35 AU. Therefore, there is no risk of impact.

Its light curve has not yet been published, so there is still no information about its shape or rotation.