An object observed last week traversing the solar system is likely the oldest comet ever sighted, according to scientists at Oxford University, who believe it predates the Earth's solar system by three billion years.
Astronomer Matthew Hopkins estimates that Comet 3I/ATLAS could be more than seven billion years old.
This “watery visitor” is only the third known object from outside the solar system to be observed in the Earth's vicinity, following 1I/‘Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019. Unique to this comet, it is the first to reach the Earth's vicinity from a completely different region of the Milky Way.
3I/ATLAS was first spotted on 1 July, travelling at about 490 million kilometres from Earth with a speed of 58 kilometres per second. It is located at the same distance from the sun as Jupiter.
The comet poses no threat to the Earth.
