"Since it was first spotted in early July, scientists have been fascinated by 3I/ATLAS - the third object in history to have been spotted cruising through our solar system from interstellar space. The visitor, which is generally suspected to be a comet, has been racing through our star system at a blistering velocity, reaching its closest point to the Sun on October 29. During that close approach, scientists were surprised to note that 3I/ATLAS brightened much faster than they anticipated."
""The reason for 3I's rapid brightening, which far exceeds the brightening rate of most Oort cloud comets at similar [radial distance], remains unclear," Naval Research Laboratory astrophysicist Karl Battams and Lowell Observatory postdoctoral fellow Qicheng Zhang wrote in a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper about the "rapid brightening." However, they provided several theories as to why 3I/ATLAS may have lit up much faster than expected."
3I/ATLAS is the third known interstellar object to traverse the solar system and was first observed in early July. The object is generally suspected to be a comet and reached perihelion on October 29 while traveling at roughly 137,000 mph. During close approach the object brightened far more rapidly than typical Oort cloud comets at comparable distances from the Sun. Observations from STEREO, SOHO and NOAA's GOES-19 detected the rapid luminosity increase because ground-based telescopes could not track the object while it passed near the Sun. Proposed explanations include its unusually high velocity and atypical nucleus composition, but the primary cause remains undetermined.
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