Although the Vera Rubin Observatory has not yet fully started its main ten-year scientific program, it has already left a significant mark on the history of studying interstellar objects. Astronomers have discovered that the observatory observed the 3I/ATLAS comet several days before its official discovery. 3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object recorded in the solar system. This is reported by Ixbt.com .
Officially, this comet was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) network of automatic telescopes on July 1, 2025. However, it later turned out that the Vera Rubin Observatory had captured the object on June 20, during the very first night of test observations. At that time, the observatory was in the calibration phase in preparation for the main program.
After the discovery was announced, scientists re-analyzed archive data and found nine images of the comet taken between June 21 and July 2. Since the standard software had not yet been launched, researchers had to process the data manually. Nevertheless, they managed to determine the comet's orbit and study the structure of its nucleus.
In the high-resolution images obtained, the comet's coma — a cloud of gas and dust formed around the nucleus under the influence of solar heat — is clearly visible. Scientists believe that if the test program had started a little earlier, the Vera Rubin Observatory would have been the first to make this historic discovery.
The Vera Rubin Observatory, with its 8.4-meter telescope, is one of the most anticipated astronomical projects of the decade. Once fully operational, it will regularly scan the entire sky, creating the largest dynamic catalog of cosmic objects. This will allow for the detection of interstellar objects in the future as they approach the solar system.
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