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A comet from another star system, named 3I/ATLAS, was discovered in July 2025: only the third object from interstellar space ever seen passing through our Solar System.

NASA / Minor Planet Center (2025)

SpaceScience

The story behind the card

The NASA-funded ATLAS survey telescope at Río Hurtado in Chile spotted it on 1 July 2025; the name marks it as the third interstellar object, found by ATLAS. The first two were 'Oumuamua in 2017 and Borisov in 2019. Its path is hyperbolic, an open curve rather than a closed orbit, so the Sun's gravity cannot hold it: it arrived at about 58 km a second and will leave for good. It passed closest to the Sun on 29 October 2025, about 203 million km away, between the orbits of Earth and Mars. Judging by its route through the galaxy, it may be older than the Solar System; one estimate puts it at 7 billion years or more.

Türkçe oku
Başka bir yıldız sisteminden gelen 3I/ATLAS adlı kuyruklu yıldız, Temmuz 2025'te keşfedildi. Yıldızlar arası uzaydan gelip Güneş Sistemi'nden geçerken yakalanan yalnızca üçüncü gök cismi.
NASA / Minor Planet Center (2025)

Kuyruklu yıldızı 1 Temmuz 2025'te, NASA'nın desteklediği ATLAS tarama teleskobu Şili'nin Río Hurtado bölgesinden fark etti. Adı, “ATLAS'ın bulduğu üçüncü yıldızlar arası cisim” anlamına gelir; ilk ikisi 2017'deki ʻOumuamua ile 2019'daki Borisov'du. Yolu kapalı bir yörünge değil, açık bir eğri olduğu için Güneş'in çekimi onu tutamaz: Saniyede yaklaşık 58 kilometre hızla geldi ve bir daha dönmemek üzere gidecek. Güneş'e en yakın noktasına 29 Ekim 2025'te ulaştı; o sırada Güneş'ten yaklaşık 203 milyon kilometre uzaktaydı, yani Dünya ile Mars'ın yörüngeleri arasındaydı. Galaksideki rotasına bakılırsa Güneş Sistemi'nden bile yaşlı olabilir; bir tahmine göre 7 milyar yaşında ya da daha yaşlı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: 3I/ATLAS
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