760 Million Year Old Mysterious Comet Entered Our Solar System - 3i⧸Atlas

3i Atlas has come from interstellar space and is a guest who has given us a lot of messages in hidden words. From making its dome in the opposite direction to some of its actions that are usually not seen in comets. Is it a comet or a time capsule sent from another world? Its entry into the solar system is also a big coincidence. But why? And what is going to happen to 3i Atlas in December 2025, which the entire scientific community is impatiently waiting for? Welcome back to Zem TV's videos. Viewers, this story of 3i Atlas begins on a cold night of July 2025. When a very large network of telescopes in Hawaii, Chile and South Africa was busy with their daily work. This network is also called Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System or ATLAS in short. These telescopes had only one purpose, to scan the sky and identify dangerous asteroids moving towards Earth. This night, ATLAS captured a new, slightly rotating moving dot in space. At first, it looked like just a new, ordinary asteroid. But soon, experts' calculations surprised everyone. And the biggest reason for this was its speed. Yes, usually all the objects in our solar system, whether they are planets or asteroids, orbit around the sun. The closer it orbits the sun, the faster its speed will be. Like Mars orbits at a speed of about 24 km per second, i.e. 86,400 km per hour. Similarly, Earth's speed is 29.8 km per second, Venus's speed is 35 km per second, and Mercury's speed is 47.9 km per second because it is closest to the sun. But what ATLAS recorded was surprisingly moving at a speed of 58 km per second. Now the problem was that its speed was not matching its location. It was close to our outermost planet Jupiter at that time, but its speed was much faster than Mercury. This speed was proof that this stone is not part of our solar system, but has come from some other star system, which we also call interstellar space. This was the point when NASA named it the 3I Atlas by giving it a special status of an interstellar object. Because it was identified by the Atlas Telescope Network. When it was identified, scientists started looking for its old signs. Then they found out that this object had also been seen two months ago in May 2025. But on another telescope, which is called TESS. But at that time, TESS failed to identify it. Anyway, when the speed of the 3I Atlas proved that it is not part of our solar system, it was given a special identity. In its name, the I was included, which reveals the interstellar. And because it is the third interstellar object to be discovered in our solar system in human history, that's why the 3 was put in front of it. And so it was named 3I Atlas. But you will be surprised to know that 3I Atlas is not just a number, but it is also completely different from the other two interstellar guests passing through our solar system. Their names were Oumuamua and Borisov. The first was discovered in 2017, while the second in 2019. Both of them came from interstellar space, but 3I Atlas is different from both of them. The first difference is in size. Oumuamua was 400 meters long, Borisov's core was 1000 meters deep, while 3I Atlas is 5.6 kilometers wider than both of them. The second big difference was their speed. Atlas was moving at almost double the speed of both of them. If you look at it apart from size and speed, the entry point of 3I Atlas was also quite strange. In our solar system, everything, planets, asteroids, revolve around the sun like a thin disc. The first two interstellar objects entered our solar system from above the disc. But 3I Atlas played a strange game. It entered our solar system from a side angle with the disc. Experts believe that coming in a straight line like this is exactly like hitting the right target with an arrow. This is why the entry of 3I Atlas is also called a cosmic coincidence. But where did 3I Atlas come from in our solar system? Finding the real location of 3I Atlas was like traveling in time. When scientists investigated its extremely fast and straight path, they came to the conclusion that it came from an unidentified star system, which is present in the core of our Milky Way. Let me tell you that like our solar system, our Milky Way galaxy is also in a thin disc shape. New stars are formed here and this is a very crowded area. But if you look at this thin disc in 3D, there is a very less crowded ancient area above and below the core, which is called a thick disc. This is the part of the Milky Way where very old stars are present. Scientists believe that 3I Atlas came out of this thick disc. Research has shown that the age of 3I Atlas is approximately 760 billion years, which makes it about twice as old as our planet Earth. Although we cannot know which star gave birth to it, but scientists have tracked its journey of 1 billion years. And surprisingly, it did not come as close to any other star as it has passed near our sun. When 3I Atlas touched the boundary of our solar system, it was no less than a fast, fearless traveler. At that time, it was far away from the sun, out of Jupiter's orbit, in cold and dark space. Until then, it was not at all apparent. But the first strange turn in its story came when it reached near Jupiter, i.e. five astronomical units away. What are astronomical units or AU? Let's find out in simple words. The distance from Earth to the sun is called 1 AU. So when 3I Atlas reached near 5 AU from the sun, it started to show its true color. Usually, comets are so far away in frozen form, but 3I Atlas started making smoke around itself 5 AU away. This cloud of smoke is called a coma. The fact that the coma was so far away was proof that most of the 3I Atlas has carbon dioxide. A dry ice that begins to melt in the slightest heat of the sun. In this way, as soon as 3I Atlas stepped into our solar system, it gave the first information about itself. After that, it cut through the orbit of two important planets in our solar system and entered. First, it came into Jupiter's orbit. After that, it continued to cross Mars's orbit. On October 3, 2025, the most interesting scene of 3I Atlas appeared. It met the closest to any planet passing near Mars. At this time, NASA's rovers and probes on Mars also captured a glimpse of this ancient guest in the sky. In the sky of Mars, this capsule-like comet is actually 3I Atlas. Although the cameras on the rovers were not designed for this purpose, this memorable photo will always be remembered in history. On October 29, 2025, it passed through the closest point to the sun, which is 1.4 AU away. This was the time that the scientists were waiting for. Because at this time, the 3I Atlas will be the hottest. And there will be no better chance to know about it. But unfortunately, on October 29, it passed close to the sun, but could not be seen from Earth. Because we are on this side of the sun, the 3I Atlas passed behind the sun. Our telescopes could not see its peak activity due to the flare of the sun. The view of the 3I Atlas was blocked due to the sun. But before that, it did something that is still out of our understanding. When the 3I Atlas was moving towards the sun, the scientists were carefully noting the light falling on it. They wanted to know that when light falls on the coma of the 3I Atlas, in which direction does it scatter? Normally, when the sun's light collides with comets and asteroids, it scatters up or down. This is called positive polarization. The polarization of the first two interstellar objects was also positive. But the 3I Atlas surprised everyone here too. Scientists saw that when the sun's light was falling on its coma, it was going back to the sun instead of going up or down. That is, its polarization was negative. The surprising thing was that the polarization of the 3I Atlas was not only negative, but it was so much negative that it was the most extreme negative polarization ever discovered in any object. But only negative polarization does not make it the most different. As you know, the 3I Atlas had created a cloud of gas around itself at the same distance as Jupiter. That is, it started to feel hot very far away. On the one hand, from this coma, we learned that most of the dry ice in this comet is present. At the same time, scientists noticed that nickel particles are also present in the clouds of this gas. This is a common thing, but in other comets and asteroids, along with nickel, iron particles are also always visible. Because they are made of dead stars, and in the core of these dying stars, nickel and iron are always together. But in the 3I Atlas, the first iron particles were not present. The lack of iron was really a mystery, and the 3I Atlas surprised everyone here too. Later, when it came closer to the sun, suddenly iron began to be seen in its coma. This behavior of this strange comet proves that it has come from a strange system. And its structure is quite different from the rules of our solar system. If you think that this was the only unique thing in the 3I Atlas, then it is not. In another place, it has also surprised NASA scientists. Normally, when a comet enters our solar system, its tail is facing backwards, i.e. away from the sun. But surprisingly, when the 3I Atlas entered our solar system, its tail was facing the sun, i.e. in the direction in which it was moving forward. Imagine that you are standing in the air, and your hair has gone backwards due to the wind, which is normal. But if your hair suddenly goes forward against the wind, how will you feel? Similarly, scientists were shocked to see the reverse tail of the 3I Atlas, which proved that it was not an ordinary stone. Of course, later, when it came closer to the sun, its tail went backwards normally. Research is still going on on this strange phenomenon. Now the update is that after leaving behind the sun, the 3I Atlas is quickly leaving our solar system. But before its departure, two important events are yet to happen, which scientists are eagerly waiting to see. It is expected that in December, it will leave behind the sun and pass through the nearest point of the Earth. During this time, it will be seen that what has changed in its composition and shape due to the heat of the sun. Will it be normal or will the 3I Atlas surprise everyone by doing something different here too? And on March 16, 2026, the 3I Atlas will pass by Jupiter again. This will be the last time we will see it so closely. At this point, the NASA probe around Jupiter, Juno, will try to capture its last image. Because after this, the 3I Atlas will leave our solar system forever. We hope you will like and share this video of ZemTV. Thank you very much for your loving comments. See you in the next great video.