The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile recently captured rare footage of the visitor known as 3I/ATLAS — only the third interstellar object discovered. What’s more impressive: The observatory recorded the video a full 10 days before the comet was officially identified by NASA 's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System.

The space rock 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object discovered by astronomers, following 'Oumuamua and the comet Borisov. While astronomers are still busily collecting data on the new discovery,

"The consequences, should the hypothesis turn out to be correct, could potentially be dire for humanity," said Avi Loeb.