Astronomers Confirm Largest Interstellar Object Entering Solar System

Astronomers have confirmed the discovery of 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar object passing through our solar system, notable for being the largest and brightest interstellar visitor recorded, with an estimated size between 6 to 19 miles. Traveling at speeds exceeding 134,000 mph, 3I/ATLAS is considered to be a comet likely originating from the thick disk of the Milky Way and is possibly billions of years old, older than the Sun itself. Its distinct reddish hue and bluer color compared to previous interstellar objects provide new insights into the diversity and composition of such visitors. Meanwhile, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has demonstrated the capability to navigate interstellar space using stellar positions as landmarks, enhancing our ability to conduct deep space exploration. In a separate advancement, scientists propose deploying a low-cost satellite, CosmoCube, orbiting the far side of the Moon to detect faint radio signals from the cosmic Dark Ages, a period shortly after the Big Bang, using the Moon as a shield against Earth’s radio interference. This mission aims to uncover crucial information about the Universe’s earliest epochs, the formation of galaxies, and the nature of dark matter.