3I/ATLAS: In Search of the Witnesses to Its Voyage
3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object discovered to date, following 1I/‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. Its unusually high excess velocity and active cometary nature make it a key probe of the Galactic population of icy planetesimals. Understanding its origin requires its past trajectory through the Galaxy to be traced and the possible role of stellar encounters to be assessed, both as a potential or
