Named 3I/ATLAS, it is only the third such object ever confirmed to have entered our celestial neighbourhood, following in the footsteps of the cigar-shaped 1I 'Oumuamua in 2017 and the comet 2I Borisov in 2019.
Unlike the millions of comets that call our sun home, this frozen wanderer formed around a completely different star, potentially millions of light-years away, before being cast out into the void. The comet was discovered by the Chile-based telescope, which is one of several units in the NASA-funded network designed to provide early warnings for Earth-bound asteroids.
