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Astronomers discover 3I/ATLAS – Third interstellar object to visit Solar System

(www.abc.net.au)
306 points gammarator | 5 comments | 03 Jul 25 03:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.942s | source

Minor Planet Electronic Circular: https://minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K25/K25N12.html
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ordu ◴[03 Jul 25 05:27 UTC] No.44451907[source]▶
Judging by how humanity didn't see any of those for millennia and now three in just several years, I can propose two hypotheses:

1. Astronomers became good enough to notice them 2. These rocks are first in an incoming flood of such objects, the Universe decided to destroy humanity.

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1. dotnet00 ◴[03 Jul 25 05:44 UTC] No.44451998[source]▶
I get that you're joking, but I wonder if it could just be that we happen to be passing through some sort of interstellar debris cloud.
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2. tigerlily ◴[03 Jul 25 09:58 UTC] No.44453398[source]▶
Get ready for the, uh, Latter Day Late Heavy Bombardment!
3. mr_toad ◴[03 Jul 25 12:08 UTC] No.44454166[source]▶
Actually we’re in a surprisingly sparse area of the galaxy, a giant hole in the galaxy created by one (or more) supernova.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Bubble

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4. kirykl ◴[03 Jul 25 14:14 UTC] No.44455298[source]▶
Maybe. The solar system was in this galactic position about 250 million years ago (one galactic year) and there was a major extinction event around that time
5. stevedonovan ◴[03 Jul 25 14:22 UTC] No.44455361[source]▶
So much for the old thermonuclear ramjet idea....