A comet has entered the Solar System from interstellar space and will pass through the inner planets later this year, NASA says.

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.

NASA has discovered a rare interstellar object named 3I/ATLAS—only the third of its kind ever detected. The comet, which comes from beyond our solar system, is currently speeding past Jupiter at 37 miles per second.