Scientists now say an interstellar comet discovered earlier this month could be one of the oldest that astronomers have ever encountered.

A mystery interstellar object discovered last week is likely to be the oldest comet ever seen—possibly predating our solar system by more than 3 billion years, researchers say. The

For context, that's 90 million kilometres farther than the distance between the Earth and the Sun! This diagram shows the hyperbolic trajectory of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passes through the inner solar system.