NASA has discovered an interstellar comet that's wandered into our backyard. Luckily, it won't get near enough to be a threat to our planet.

NASA has announced an exciting discovery hurtling through our solar system: an interstellar object. It’s a comet, but beyond that, its size and characteristics are still mostly unknown. Simply called 3I/ATLAS, it’s just the third such object ever discovered. The ‘3’ designates the third, and the ‘I’ specifies its interstellar nature.

NASA has discovered a new interstellar comet that's currently located about 420 million miles away from Earth. The space agency spotted the quick-moving object with the Atlas telescope in Chile on Tuesday and confirmed it was a comet from another star system. The new interstellar comet's official name is 3I/ATLAS.