One year ago, on July 1, 2025, astronomers discovered a fascinating new object moving through the Solar System. Detected by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), the comet was quickly recognized as something special.
Tearing past at record speed, the comet, known as 3I/ATLAS, is only the third interstellar object ever detected. Born around another star, it was a fleeting visitor that is now heading out of the Solar System at more than 60 kilometers per second, never to return.
The discovery made headlines worldwide — with bizarre claims that it might be an alien spaceship distracting from the true wonders of the object.
In a new paper published in Nature, a team of scientists (led by Martin Cordiner from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) has shed fresh light on the comet’s origin. Their results reveal it to be a true galactic fossil, far older than the Solar System.
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