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One theoretical physicist from Harvard University suggested the object could be an alien spacecraft
Scientists have shared details on a mysterious "interstellar object", which is streaming throughout the solar system.
The object measures approximately seven miles in diameter, making it bigger than Mount Everest.
Dubbed 3I/ATLAS, experts have used data from the Vera C Rubin Observatory to determine its vast size and details about it.
Professor Avi Loeb, a theoretical physicist and cosmologist from Harvard University, said that the object could be an alien spacecraft.
However, Oxford University astronomer, Chris Lintott, is unconvinced, telling LiveScience: "Any suggestion that it's artificial is nonsense on stilts."
He suggested these claims are an "insult to the exciting work going on to understand this object".
Vera C Rubin snapped images of the comet before it was officially discovered.
But since July 1, scientists have gone through further data to find out more about the object.
In a new study from arXiv, more than 200 researchers have confirmed that the likely size of the comet's main body is around 3.5miles.
This gives it a diameter of about seven miles, making it the largest interstellar object discovered to date.
Beyond its wide size, researchers pinpointed certain details on 3I/ATLAS's coma, including the cloud of ice, dust and gas surrounding it.
Researchers predict the comet possesses large quantities of ice and dust inside its coma.
This composition suggests that 3I/ATLAS is likely a natural comet, and not alien-built.
Speaking to MailOnline, Professor Loeb stated that its extortionate speed indicates an alien might control it.
He said: "It is difficult to imagine a natural process that would favour a plunge towards the inner solar system at 60 kilometres per second. An alternative is that the object targets the inner solar system by some technological design."
