Distant Solar System Visitor Illuminates Our Origins
TL;DR
Astronomers say comet C/2025 R3 PANSTARRS — a long-period visitor likely from the Oort Cloud — has been visible in the northern hemisphere for weeks, offering a rare glimpse at material from the solar system's birth. With such comets taking extremely elongated orbits, this one may not return for around 170,000 years, making its current pass a unique opportunity to study early solar-system building blocks and clues about how planets formed, as gravitational interactions could eventually eject it from the system.
- Visitor Approaches From the Edge of the Solar System Yahoo
- A Visitor From the Oort Cloud: Rare Comet Appears in Southern Skies The New York Times
- Cool cat saunters by Otago Daily Times
- Stargazers jump at chance to shoot once-in-a-lifetime comet Harvey Waroona Reporter
- Comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) from Northern Hemisphere Sky & Telescope
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