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Astronomers Trace Third Interstellar Comet to Milky Way’s Thick Disk

Velocity modelling coupled with deep imaging pinpoint the comet’s origin to the Milky Way’s thick disk, revealing an estimated age of up to 14 billion years.

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Astronomers Have Traced Our New Interstellar Comet's Origin, And It's a First

Overview

  • Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1 by the NASA-funded ATLAS survey in Chile and confirmed as the third interstellar object after exhibiting a hyperbolic trajectory and 57 km/s velocity.
  • Trajectory analysis using the Ōtautahi-Oxford interstellar object model traces its origin to the Milky Way’s thick disk, making it the first known visitor from that stellar population.
  • Deep imaging by ESO’s Very Large Telescope has revealed a coma and tail in unprecedented detail, uncovering a bluer nucleus surface and a redder surrounding cloud of dust and gas.
  • Researchers estimate the comet spans 10 to 20 kilometers and formed between 7.6 and 14 billion years ago, indicating a composition far older than the Solar System.
  • Astronomers worldwide are preparing for its October 30 perihelion inside Mars’s orbit and a late-October flyby at about 1.6 astronomical units from Earth, with further observations planned through December.