An Interstellar Object Like Oumuamua Just Enters Our Solar System: Scientists Can’t Believe Its Size

Astronomers have just spotted something really strange moving through our solar system and it seems to be coming our way. This mysterious object is believed to have come from outside our solar system, making it possibly only the third known interstellar visitor ever discovered. It's currently being called three I/Atlas and it was first seen in data collected between June 25th and June 29th by a system called Atlas. The asteroid terrestrial impact last alert system. This system uses powerful telescopes in Hawaii and South Africa to scan the night sky automatically for any unusual or potentially dangerous space objects. After the object was noticed, it was confirmed by experts at NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies. And the research team has now confirmed that this new interstellar object isn't a glitch or an error. It's real. What makes three/atlas so fascinating is its strange speed and unknown nature. Scientists still aren't sure what it actually is. It could be a comet, an asteroid, or maybe even something we've never seen before. One well-known astronomer, Avi Lo from Harvard University, who famously suggested that OmuA Mua might have been an alien probe has weighed in again. This time he's suggesting that scientists use the powerful James Web Space Telescope to study this newly discovered interstellar object in more detail. He wants to look for signs of non-gravitational acceleration, which means movement that can't be explained just by gravity alone. If such a force is detected, it could hint at some kind of artificial propulsion. In other words, it might not be a natural object at all. In today's video, we'll explore this strange new interstellar object in detail. Where did it come from? How big is it? Where is it right now? And most importantly, could it be something artificial? On Tuesday, astronomers using a telescope in Chile spotted something strange in the sky. It looked like an unknown asteroid moving on a very unusual path, possibly coming close to Earth's orbit. At first, they called it a 11PL3Z. But soon, things got more interesting. Follow-up observations on July 1st and 2nd showed that this object wasn't following a typical path. In fact, it might even be interstellar, meaning it could be coming from outside our solar system. Then, an amateur astronomer named Sam Dean made a breakthrough. He found the object in older photos taken by the Atlas telescope back in late June. Thanks to this discovery, scientists were able to track the object better and calculate its path more accurately. By Wednesday evening, the Minor Planet Center, the group that keeps track of space objects, had received over 100 confirmed sightings from telescopes all around the world. Some astronomers even reported that the object might be comet. With all this new information, the Minor Planet Center gave it an official name, three/Atlas, making it only the third interstellar object ever recorded. Paul Chas, director of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said in a statement, "This thing is traveling pretty fast. There's no uncertainty that the comet came from interstellar space. If you trace its orbit backward, it seems to be coming from the center of the galaxy, more or less. It definitely came from another solar system. We don't know which one. At the moment, this object is moving through the solar system at an incredible speed of about 152,000 mph. It's currently about 3.8 times farther from the sun than Earth is. Its first close planetary encounter will be on October 3rd, 2025 when it passes near Mars. Then on October 23rd, it will reach its closest point to the sun, coming within twice the distance between Earth and the Sun. Earth, however, will be on the opposite side of the sun during this flyby. So there's no danger of the object coming anywhere near us. Its closest approach to Earth is expected in December 2025, just as this interstellar object begins its journey out of our solar system for good. Well, three I/Atlas isn't the first interstellar visitor to baffle scientists. So far, only two interstellar objects have ever been confirmed, and both have left experts with more questions than answers. In 2017, astronomers discovered an interstellar object named Umua Mua, the first of its kind ever observed. This elongated cigar-shaped object passed through our solar system at a high speed, puzzling scientists. Scientists were puzzled by Umuam Mua's nature. It's because when Umuam Mua moved away from the sun, it sped up slightly, which is unusual. Normally objects like asteroids or comets slow down due to gravity. But Umua Mua didn't behave like a typical comet either. It had no visible tail, no outgassing, and was shaped more like a long cigar or flat pancake. This strange acceleration puzzled scientists. Some proposed it could be natural, like gas escaping invisibly, but others like Harvard's Avi Loab even suggested it might be an alien spacecraft. Later in 2019, another interstellar visitor Borosoft was observed. Unlike Umuam Mua, Borosoft was clearly a comet with a visible tail and composition resembling comets within our solar system. Its detection confirmed that interstellar objects are not one-off events, but might occur more frequently than previously thought. Following the discoveries of Umuam Mua and Borosoft, the newly detected object Atlas has now become the third confirmed interstellar visitor to enter our solar system. Right now, scientists aren't entirely sure how big this newly discovered object is. However, Professor Ai Loeb recently pointed out that it's unusually bright, which could be a clue. He explained what accounts for its significant brightness. If the surface were dark, like that of a rocky asteroid, it would have to be huge, around 12 m or 20 km wide to reflect this much light. If true, that would make it much larger than both Umuamua and Boris. Before the discovery of Umuam Mua in 2017, not a single interstellar object had ever been confirmed passing through our solar system. Now, within just a few years, we've identified three. Some scientists find this deeply puzzling. After centuries of silence, why are we suddenly seeing these visitors from other star systems? Could it be that such objects have always passed by, but we simply lacked the technology to detect them? Or is there something truly different about this recent wave? A few researchers have even proposed a bold idea that some of these objects may have artificial origins, possibly even probes from distant civilizations. Their strange shapes, speeds, and unexplained movements fuel this speculation. Scientists will continue observing three I/Atlas over the coming weeks and months to learn more about its size, shape, and where it might have come from. Compared to when Umuwa Mua and Borosov passed by, today's telescopes and tracking systems are far more advanced, giving us a better chance to study this mysterious visitor in detail. In the near future, the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile will begin scanning the entire sky every few days. This powerful new observatory is expected to detect more interstellar objects, possibly even earlier in their journey, offering a clearer picture of how often these cosmic travelers pass through our solar system. At the end, I will say there's no reason to worry about three I/Atlas hitting Earth. It's just passing through, giving us a brief but exciting chance to observe a true visitor from another star system. If you enjoyed the video and want to support our work, you can do so by clicking super thanks or by grabbing one of our awesome t-shirts from our merch store. Thanks so much for watching and a huge thank you to our channel members for your continued support. See you in the next video.