July 3 (UPI) -- NASA discovered the third interstellar comet through a survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile. The interstellar comet first observed on Tuesday by NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Alert System telescope, or ATLAS, has been officially named 3I/ATLAS.

NASA has discovered an interstellar comet that's wandered into our backyard. The space agency spotted the object with the sky-surveying Atlas telescope in Chile earlier this week, and has confirmed it was a comet from another star system.

The newly discovered interstellar visitor is just the third of its kind and fascinates astronomers who hope to learn from it about galaxies far, far away.