Astronomers Spot a 7-Billion-Year-Old Interstellar Comet – Could It Be the Oldest Ever Seen?
On July 1, 2025, the ATLAS telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile, detected 3I/ATLAS near Jupiter’s orbit with a hyperbolic, interstellar trajectory. 3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object identified, following 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019. Estimates place 3I/ATLAS at 7–10 billion years old