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Hello Lexulous Players,
The more we learn about our galaxy, the more curious we become. And every time a new name or mysterious object appears, it's hard not to wonder: What is it? Where did it come from?
That's exactly what happened this week.
Astronomers are buzzing about 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar comet visiting our solar system β a traveller from another star, not born anywhere near our Sun. Even more astonishing, scientists think this cosmic visitor could be over 7 billion years old, making it potentially older than our Sun.
What makes this discovery even more remarkable is the patience behind it: months of watching a faint speck of light, waiting for it to reveal its secrets.
It's the same satisfaction that comes from finally spotting the perfect word hiding in a rack of tiles.
π Weekly Word Wonder: SCINTILLA
Pronunciation: sin-TIL-uh (IPA: /sΙͺnΛtΙͺlΙ/)
Parts of Speech: Noun
Definition: A minute amount; a tiny spark, flash, or trace of something.
Origin: Borrowed directly from Latin scintilla, meaning "spark." The word entered English in the 17th century and has been used ever since for the very smallest visible or measurable amount of anything β light, doubt, hope, evidence.
Usage:
"Not a scintilla of doubt remained once she saw the data come in."
"Even a scintilla of starlight was enough to remind them how small, and how lucky, they were."
π Quick Quiz:
What does "3I" stand for in 3I/ATLAS?
Answer: It means 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object ever spotted passing through our solar system. The "I" stands for "interstellar" β a label given to objects whose hyperbolic trajectories trace back to outside our solar system. The first two were 1I/'Oumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019).
1I/'Oumuamua was the first β spotted in October 2017 by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii, it was a strange, elongated object that briefly accelerated away from the Sun in ways that sparked debate over whether it was an asteroid, a comet, or something else entirely.
2I/Borisov followed in August 2019, discovered by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, and behaved more like a familiar comet, with a clear dusty tail β the first visitor from another star we could confidently call a true comet.
β¨ The Visitor from Beyond:
3I/ATLAS was first reported on 1 July 2025 by the ATLAS survey telescope in RΓo Hurtado, Chile. Unlike ordinary comets, it does not orbit our Sun β its hyperbolic trajectory traces straight back to interstellar space. Pre-discovery observations later extended the comet's known track back to 14 June 2025, and it made its closest approach to the Sun around 29 October 2025, just inside the orbit of Mars. Its closest approach to Earth came on about 19 December 2025, at roughly 1.8 astronomical units β close enough to study, far enough to be safe.
What makes each interstellar visitor precious is that they are essentially free samples from another star system. Webb's methane detection, announced on 1 June 2026, is the first mid-infrared chemical fingerprint ever taken of an interstellar object. A separate Webb study also provided clues to the comet's remarkably ancient origin, suggesting it may have formed 10β12 billion years agoβlong before our Solar System and among the oldest comet-like bodies ever studied. A single line in a spectrum, but one that may reveal how comets formed around distant stars billions of years ago.
π Community Puzzle: Hidden Word
This week, in the spirit of finding tiny traces in big spaces, we are hiding four small words inside longer phrases. Each answer is a real English word, spelled out by consecutive letters in the phrase. Spot the word, write it out, and post your answers below!
Example:
Clue: A word meaning 'a fixed period'
Phrase: βa bit laTER, My alarm rangβ
Hidden word: TERM
A celestial wanderer hides inside "welcome tonight if possible" β _______
A bright far away light hides inside "this target needs attention" β _______
A planet's path hides inside "for bits of information" β _______
A ringed planet hides inside "pass a turn and wait" β _______
(Scroll down for last week's answers!)
π‘ Lexulous Tip of the Week
Unable to Access Your Games on Another Device?
If you can see your games on one device but not on another, it is likely that you have signed in with a different email address on the second device or browser.
Lexulous stores your games and account data under the email address associated with your account. If you accidentally sign in with a different email address, a new account may be created. Since this new account is separate from your original account, your existing games, friends list, ratings, and other account data will not be visible.
To resolve this issue, check the email address you are currently signed in with on both devices. Make sure you are using the same email address that was originally used to create or access your Lexulous account. If you have multiple email addresses, try signing out and signing back in with the email address that contains your games.
Once you sign in with the correct email address, your games and account data should automatically sync across all devices and browsers where you use the same account.
If you are unsure which email address is linked to your original account, review any previous Lexulous emails, login notifications, or account-related messages in your inbox to identify the correct email address.
Last Week's Answers (Edition #31)
D R O H C β CHORD
Y D O L E M β MELODY
M Y R H T H β RHYTHM
L I V O I N β VIOLIN
Keep watching the sky, and keep playing!
β The Lexulous Team
