Is this mystery interstellar object the oldest comet ever?

Last week saw much excitement within the scientific community.

This came after scientists discovered a mysterious object hurtling through our solar system.

The object, spotted on July 1, is believed to have come from interstellar space.

It was discovered by the Atlas telescope in Chile.

Nicknamed 3I/ATLAS, it is only the third interstellar object that has entered our solar system after 1I/Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.

Now, astronomers say that 3I/ATLAS could be the oldest comet ever.

But what do we know about it? What are scientists saying?

Let’s take a closer look

But what do we know about it?

The object was spotted around 669 million kilometres from the sun.

It was initially named A11pl3Z.

It is thought to have a diameter of 20 kilometers.

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Nasa has said Earth is no danger from it.

Experts say 3I/ATLAS has a tail and a nucleus – which means it is a comet.

They say it likely hails from the Milky Way’s “thick disk” of stars.

The “thick disk” comprises around 10 per cent of the Milky Way’s stellar mass.

It can currently be spotted by very large telescopes.

It should be seen via amateur telescopes later this year.

They say it is likely made up of a lot of water ice.

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It will get closest to the Sun in October.

However, it will still be only around half as close to the Sun as Earth is.

By that time, it will be travelling around 68 kilometers per second or  around 245,000 kilometers per hour.

Still, as it gets closer and closer to the sun, its frozen ice will transform into gas.

This will give the 3I/ATLAS a cometary aura, or “coma,” and a bright tail – for which comets are known.

What are scientists saying?

They are saying that 3I/ATLAS maybe the oldest comet in history.

The research was presented at a meeting f the UK’s Royal Astronomical Society at Durham University on Friday.

“We’re all very excited by 3I/Atlas,” University of Oxford astronomer Matthew Hopkins told BBC News.

“I’ve just finished my PhD where I spent four years predicting the discovery of [more] interstellar objects, and then for the first time in my studies, we found one,” he said.

Hopkins is among those claiming it could be as old as 7 billion years.

This would make 3I/ATLAS older than our solar system – which is around 4 billion years old.

“All non-interstellar comets, such as Halley’s comet, formed at the same time as our solar system, so they are up to 4.5 billion years old,” Hopkins said in a statement to _Space.com_ . “But interstellar visitors have the potential to be far older, and of those known about so far, our statistical method suggests that 3I/ATLAS is very likely to be the oldest comet we have ever seen.”

Hopkins said there is a nearly 70 per cent chance that 3I/ATLAS is between 7.6 and 14 billion years old.

“This is an object from a part of the galaxy we’ve never seen up close before,” added professor Chris Lintott, co-author of the study.

“We think there’s a two-thirds chance this comet is older than the solar system, and that it’s been drifting through interstellar space ever since."

Our Milky Way galaxy, for reference, is around 13.6 billion years old.

They are thrilled as to what it could mean for the future.

“We’re in an exciting time, 3I/ATLAS is already showing signs of activity. The gases that may be seen in the future as 3I/ATLAS is heated by the sun will test our model,” team member Michele Bannister, of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, told _Space.com._

Some of the biggest telescopes in the world are already observing this new interstellar object – one of them may be able to find out!”

With inputs from agencies