Just the third-ever confirmed interstellar object has been detected in our solar system. Here's what we know. (Spoiler: It's not aliens.)

On July 1, 2025, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey telescope, located in northern Chile, spotted a new object just inside the orbit of Jupiter. ATLAS scans the sky every night looking for any new comets or asteroids, with specific interest in anything that could be on a collision course with Earth.

What at first seemed a routine detection of an object travelling through the solar system soon turned out to be anything but. The object’s trajectory revealed it to be a much rarer visitor than first thought.

A newly discovered ice comet from deep space may be over 7 billion years old, making it the most ancient comet scientists have ever seen.

Astronomers have confirmed the third interstellar object on record is dashing through our solar system. Dubbed 3I/ATLAS, it appears to be a comet and is thought to have flown in from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, where the central region of the Milky Way lies.

Scientists have been studying an interstellar object that's currently moving through our solar system which was first spotted on 1 July. It has been called 3I/ATLAS because of what spotted it, and this object being the third detected interstellar object in our system.

I/ATLAS might be over 7 billion years old, a new study reports, which would make it the oldest comet known. But experts caution we need more data.

NASA has discovered a new interstellar comet that's currently located about 420 million miles away from Earth. The space agency spotted the quick-moving object with the Atlas telescope in Chile on Tuesday and confirmed it was a comet from another star system. The new interstellar comet's official name is 3I/ATLAS.