Interstellar visitor Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered just a week ago and ever since, astronomers across the world have been hard at work following it, trying to gather as much data on it as possible. The initial data on this object already suggested marked differences between it and the previous two known interstellar objects that crossed the Solar System.

There are lots of objects floating around in our solar system, but one thing most have in common is a common origin, and then there's 3I/ATLAS.

Sometimes "the universe comes to us," writes the European Space Agency. For the third time since 2017, an interstellar object will enter our solar system. What is it and are we prepared?