Mystery Discovery in Space is most likely ‘the oldest comet ever seen’, say researchers | Science, Climate & Technology News

The object of the mystery between the mystery found by British astronomers is most likely the oldest comet ever.

Visitors “Rich Ice Air”, which has been named 3i/Atlas, is the first object to reach us from an area that is completely different from our galaxy, the researchers said.

Only two other objects enter our solar system from other places.

Unlike its predecessor, 3i/Atlas seems to be traveling on a steep road that shows it comes from the “thick disk” of the Milky Way, an ancient star area that orbits above and under a thin field where most stars live.

Astronomer University of Oxford Matthew Hopkins explained: “All non-interstellar comets such as Halley comet are formed with our solar system, so it is 4.5 billion years old.

“But inter -star visitors have the potential to be much older, and of those who are known so far our statistical methods show that 3i/Atlas is very likely to be the oldest comet we have ever seen.”

3i/Atlas can be around three billion years older than our solar system.

This was first seen on July 1, 2025 by the Atlas survey telescope in Chile, when around 670 million kilometers from the sun. The earth is 149 million km from the sun.

Professor Chris Lintott, a colleague of the research writer, said: “This is the object of the galaxy that we have never seen up close before.

“We think there is a chance that these two -thirds of the comet is older than the solar system, and that has been floating through inter -star space since then.”

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When 3i/Atlas get closer to the sun, sunlight will heat the surface and trigger outgassing steam dust that creates a shining comet tail.

Members of the community can see a glimpse of 3i/Atlas in the coming months, because the researchers said it should be seen through amateur telescopes large enough at the end of 2025 and early 2026.