🚨: Astronomers have traced the path of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. It's been travelling through the Milky Way for the past 12 billion years.
3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed interstellar comet to pass through our Solar System, following 1I/‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. Unlike its predecessors, 3I/ATLAS approached from the southern celestial hemisphere, arriving from the direction of the Milky Way’s Galactic Center—a surprising find, since most interstellar objects were expected to come from the solar apex, the direction our Sun moves relative to local stars.
This icy visitor was first observed in July 2025, as astronomers tracked its hyperbolic trajectory and exceptional speed (58 km/s far faster than solar escape velocity) using ground-based telescopes and space observatories.
Scientific instruments, including the Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope, and the Very Large Telescope, confirmed its interstellar origin by measuring its distinctive orbital parameters and motion. Notably, 3I/ATLAS did not interact closely with any Solar System planet, ruling out a local origin.
What makes 3I/ATLAS truly remarkable is its potential age—estimated to be around 12 billion years—older than the Solar System itself. Its path and composition suggest it hails from the thick disk population of our galaxy: ancient, metal-poor regions far beyond the Sun’s birthplace. These findings challenge existing theories about the prevalence and detectability of interstellar objects.
With 3I/ATLAS, scientists now glimpse the diversity of cosmic wanderers—and the mysteries they carry. Coming discoveries may reveal not only their origins, but also offer fresh clues to the birth and evolution of solar systems throughout the Milky Way.
I don't know why people are calling this video out as proof that Elon is grifting/misleading about Optimus's autonomous capabilities. Everyone knows that many of the Optimus bots were remotely controlled by humans. What's impressive is the dexterity of the arms/hands and the balancing of the bot while the operator does whatever. No, the human operators cannot balance the robot on their own, and can't walk on their own. It's AI. This is insane progress on Optimus, they have mobility down.
This is not a "gotcha". Tesla was trying show us the future, to imagine. It was a 10/10 event imo (no pun intended haha).