Watan-NASA has announced the discovery of a comet wandering through our solar system.
The space agency detected the fast-moving object earlier this week using its ATLAS sky survey telescope in Chile. NASA confirmed that it is a comet originating from another star system, officially making it the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system. Importantly, it poses no threat to Earth.
The newly discovered visitor is currently located about 416 million miles (670 million kilometers) from the Sun, near the orbit of Jupiter.
According to NASA, the comet will reach its closest point to the Sun in October, passing between the orbits of Mars and Earth—but it will be much closer to Mars, at a safe distance of approximately 150 million miles (240 million kilometers) from Earth.
Astronomers around the world are now closely monitoring this icy celestial body, officially named 3I/ATLAS, in order to determine its size and shape.
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