Visitors from the depths of space have come from an area of the Milky Way that has never been seen before, carrying people as the oldest cubes of ice in the known universe.
The mysterious object, known as 3i/Atlas, may have been over 7 billion years, which can indicate that our entire solar system has been more than 3 billion years, according to researchers at Oxford University.
This only marks the third interstellar object ever discovered into our cosmic community, but unlike its predecessors, the 3i/Atlas appears to originate from the ancient “thick disk” of the Milky Way, a crowd of people spinning around the elderly stars above and below the galaxy plane.
Cosmic Time Capsule
Matthew Hopkins, who led research by Oxford astronomer, just defended his dissertation. “I wasn’t the quiet Wednesday I planned, but the wake-up message ‘3i!!!!!!’.” The timing proved to be accidental – his newly completed model could immediately test predictions for actual observations.
Chile’s Atlas survey telescope first discovered a comet on July 1, 2025, about 670 million kilometers from the sun. Early analysis showed that the 3i/Atlas followed the steep trajectory of the Milky Way, consistent with objects with thick disks, a stellar population formed by the Milky Way during its turbulent early history.
“All non-obstructive comets, such as Halley’s comets, are composed of our solar system and are therefore 4.5 billion years old,” Hopkins explained. But interstellar visitors have greater ancient potential, and statistical analysis shows that 3i/Atlas represents the oldest comets encountered by humans.
Milky Way Archaeology
The origin story of the comet reads like galactic archaeology. Hopkins’ team used the correlation between stellar age and velocity to estimate the possible birthplace and era of 3i/Atlas. Thick disk objects are usually formed when galaxies are young and more chaotic, about seven to 14 billion years ago.
The main evidence supporting this ancient origin includes:
- Track Track: Steep paths are consistent with thick disk dynamics
- Speed mode: Vertical motion characteristics of ancient star populations
- Water ice ingredients: Expected to be old, poor star-shaped areas
- Size Estimated Value: Probably bigger than previous interstellar tourists
Chris Lintott, co-author of The Sky by BBC, The Sky, the importance of the night: “This is an object in the Milky Way that we have never seen before. We think this comet is older than the solar system and has been spread throughout Interstellar Space since then.”
Testing Ancient Ice
As the 3i/Atlas approaches the sun, solar heating will trigger comet activity – blowing of steam and dust produces characteristic luminous coma and tail. The process provides researchers with a unique opportunity to analyze raw materials that may predate the Earth itself.
“In the future, we may see 3i gases heated by the sun will test our model. Some of the world’s largest telescopes have observed this new interstellar object.”
The water-rich composition of comets predicted by the Hopkins model can provide insights into conditions in the galaxy’s youth. If confirmed, this ancient ice represents a direct sample of the era when the Milky Way is still forming its current structure.
Impact on future discoveries
The discovery has broader significance for the future of astronomy. The team’s ōtautahi–oxford model represents the first real-time application of predictive modeling to interstellar comets, successfully predicting properties before detailed observations.
Dr. Rosemary Dorsey of the University of Helsinki connects it to an upcoming investigation: “The 3i discovery suggests that Rubin’s prospects may now be more optimistic.” The new Vera C. Rubin Observatory is about to begin operations, which can detect five to fifty similar objects over the next decade.
For amateur astronomers, the 3i/ata should be seen through reasonable sized telescopes in late 2025 and early 2026, a rare opportunity to observe materials that may have witnessed the earliest days of the Galaxy.
If 3i/Atlas proved to be as old as expected, it would have transformed from the only scientific curiosity to the messenger of the cosmic young man, with ice larger than our world, and stories from the stellar nursery that stopped billions of years of action before the formation of the earth.
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