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A mysterious “interstellar object” has been spotted inside our solar system by astronomers and it’s making its way towards Earth – fast.
Experts have been left baffled after the discovery of the object that is from outside our solar system.
Avi Loeb, a physicist from Harvard, revealed the unknown object is expected to pass by Earth on 17 December and is speeding at a mind-boggling rate of more than 41 miles per second (approximately 150,000 mph).
While the speed of the object, known as A11pl3Z, may sound terrifying, experts say that it is travelling too fast to become caught in the gravitational pull of the sun or any other planets.
Astronomer Sam Deen was the first person to spot A11pl3Z in late June, noting its atypical course and speed. It has since been reported and flagged by the International Astronomical Union, who confirmed its interstellar origin.
There is debate around what the object is, but theories range among astronomers between a huge space rock and a comet.
From what astronomers can gather at the moment, A11pl3Z is estimated to be around 12 miles wide. Its estimated size makes it larger than both of the previous two interstellar objects that entered our solar system: Oumuamua, which was between 300 and 1,300 feet long, and the Borisov comet, which, at its core, was around half a mile in diameter.
Luckily for us on Earth, its current course means it’s not projected to come close to us.
Based on its current trajectory, A11pl3Z is expected to come within 2.4 astronomical units (AU) of the planet. To put it into some sort of context, that’s 223 million miles, as one AU equals the distance between Earth and the sun.
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