I/ATLAS isn't just fascinating because it is the third interstellar visitor found in the solar system; new research suggests it's also the oldest comet ever seen, at over 7 billion years old.

ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) has obtained new images of the path, shown as a dotted line of lights, of 3I/Atlas, an interstellar object discovered last week A mystery interstellar object spotted last week by astronomers could be the oldest comet ever seen,

After running a new kind of computer simulation, scientists believe the comet originated from a rarely seen corner of the galaxy, far beyond the birthplace of the sun. And because