
On 1 July 2025, astronomers using the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, detected a faint, fast-moving object unlike anything seen before.
The discovery, officially named 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1), marks only the third confirmed interstellar object ever observed - after ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.