This is wild! There is something in the sky, and the best scientists don't know what it is! In July, 3I/ATLAS was first spotted in our solar system! 3I means it's the 3rd Interstellar object we've observed with modern technology, and ATLAS stands for Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System. It's a network of telescopes in Chile. The first intersteller object was Oumuamua, and the second was Borisov.
3I/ATLAS came reletively close to Mars on October 3rd. It is not behaving like an ordinary comet or asteroid. It's high speed is unusual, and it's chemical composition doesn't have a lot of water. Today is October 30th, and 3I/ATLAS has disappeared from our view behind the Sun. Some have suggested it's as big as Manhattan, and it might've released a few probe spacecrafts as it whizzed by. Everybody wants to believe we're not alone in the Universe, but they also don't want to be attacked by hostile aliens. 3I/ATLAS won't come back into view until early December, unless it gets destroyed by the Sun. It seems like a neat story to follow ...
