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.

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.

Chatter on Bluesky

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.

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— 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.
???

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— astrafoxen (@astrafoxen.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 9:37 PM

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. ??

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— David Rankin (@asteroiddave.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 9:25 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.

Via NASA/JPL

Via IAU Minor Planet Center

The post New interstellar object candidate heading toward the sun first appeared on EarthSky.