BREAKING: New interstellar object candidate heading toward the sun
New interstellar object visiting our solar system
There’s a new object in the solar system headed toward the sun, and it may have come from interstellar space. We only know of two other interstellar objects that have entered into our solar system before, ‘Oumuamua and Comet 2I/Borisov. The nature of ‘Oumuamua is still a matter of debate, and the second was a comet from another solar system. And now we may have a third interstellar visitor. Currently named A11pl3Z, this object has a trajectory that suggests it didn’t originate inside our own solar system.
The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center added the object to their Near-Earth Object confirmation list on July 1, 2025. The object is also on NASA/JPL’s website for Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page under A11pl3Z. Despite being listed as a near-Earth object, there is no fear of it hitting Earth or even coming particularly close.
So what is the new visitor? Well, it’s likely either a comet or an asteroid, but it’s too soon (and too far away) at this point to say with any certainty.
Observations of the visitor
Astrafoxen, an astrophysics undergrad student in California on Bluesky, has shared an image of A11pl3Z from the Deep Random Survey in Chile. Additionally, Sam Deen, a prolific amateur astronomer, found earlier images of the object in ATLAS data from June 25 to 29. These data points help show the track of the object, indicating that it is almost certainly interstellar.
The dim space rock is currently at about magnitude 18.8. Our new visitor, A11pl3Z, will get its closest to the sun – at about 2 astronomical units (AU), or twice as far as Earth is from the sun – in October. As it reaches perihelion – its closest point to the sun – it should be moving at about 68 km/s relative to the sun, or at about 152,000 miles per hour.
Marshall Eubanks, a physicist and VLBI radio astronomer and co-founder of Space Initiatives, said on the Minor Planet Mailing List that the object could be as large as 12 miles (20 km) in diameter. It will also come within about 0.4 AU of Mars in October, which would make it just barely observable by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. With the current orbital data, Eubanks said:
This object appears to be coming from the thin galactic disk.
Eubanks also said:
Note that next April (2026) it will have a velocity relative to Earth of about 90 km/s. That should set a record.
Chatter on Bluesky
Astronomers may have just discovered the third interstellar object passing through the Solar System!
ESA’s Planetary Defenders are observing the object, provisionally known as #A11pl3Z, right now using telescopes around the world.
— ESA Operations (@operations.esa.int) July 2, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Interstellar object candidate #A11pl3Z from Deep Random Survey, Chile (obs code X09). No obvious tail, will have to do a stack to see if there’s anything…
Date is 2025 Jul 2 00:52:39 UTC.
— astrafoxen (@astrafoxen.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 8:30 PM
In the image above, the dot at center is the new candidate for an interstellar object visiting our solar system, currently named A11pl3Z.
UPDATE on our new interstellar friend #A11pl3Z:
Citizen scientist Sam Deen has found earlier observations of from June 25-28, from the ATLAS telescope!Now with 6 days’ worth of data, the eccentricity of A11pl3Z’s trajectory is narrowed down to e=10.4 ± 1.1!
… that’s undoubtedly interstellar.
???— astrafoxen (@astrafoxen.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 9:37 PM
The orbit of the candidate interstellar object
Our friend at Atlas seem to have discovered the 3rd interstellar object deep in the milky way. Precovery data going back to June 25th is leaving little doubt. With an eccentricity near 10, this is like nothing seen before. Comet is screaming by us. ??
— David Rankin (@asteroiddave.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 9:25 PM
3rd interstellar object discovered? Maybe. There’s a lot of buzz right now in the Astro community. More observations should come in tonight to confirm if A11pI3Z is from beyond the solar system.
— Tony Dunn (@tony873004.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Bottom line: We have a new candidate for an interstellar object visiting our solar system. It’s speeding toward the sun and should make its closest approach in October 2025.
The post BREAKING: New interstellar object candidate heading toward the sun first appeared on EarthSky.