3I/ATLAS Comet Updates: Where It Is Now and What Scientists Are Saying

Journey Tribune – A mysterious visitor from the depths of space is captivating astronomers across the globe. Known as Comet 3I/ATLAS, the massive, Manhattan-sized object entered our solar system earlier this year and is now completing its close pass around the Sun. Scientists are racing to study its composition, origin, and unusual behavior—while some, like Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, are even exploring whether this interstellar traveler might be something more than a natural object.

What Is the 3I/ATLAS Comet?

Comet 3I/ATLAS was first detected on July 1, 2025, near Jupiter, by the ATLAS telescope system in Chile. The “3I” designation means it’s the third interstellar object ever identified entering our solar system—following 1I/‘Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.

Unlike comets that orbit the Sun, interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS come from beyond our solar system, likely formed around another star. That makes them rare opportunities to study material from other corners of the galaxy.

NASA observations indicate that 3I/ATLAS has a nucleus between 1,400 feet and 3.5 miles wide, composed of ice, rock, and metal. Hubble Space Telescope images taken in August revealed a teardrop-shaped cloud of dust trailing from its icy core—evidence that sunlight and heat are vaporizing its frozen surface as it approaches the Sun.

This distinctive shape, scientists say, could offer new insight into how comets evolve when exposed to different stellar environments. For astrophysicists, every fragment of data from 3I/ATLAS represents a tiny sample of chemistry from a star system light-years away.

Where Is It Now?

After passing near Jupiter in July and swinging by Mars in early October, the comet has now reached its closest point to the Sun, a moment NASA projected for late October 2025. The heat from the Sun is currently transforming much of its surface, generating a luminous tail of gas and dust visible to deep-space telescopes.

In November, the European Space Agency’s JUICE spacecraft—currently on its way to study Jupiter and its icy moons—will monitor 3I/ATLAS from afar. Scientists hope the spacecraft’s sensors can help determine how the comet’s composition changes as it reacts to the Sun’s radiation.

By December, 3I/ATLAS will head back outward, making its closest approach to Earth at about 167 million miles away. While that’s too distant to pose any risk, it’s close enough for another round of detailed observations from both ground-based and orbital telescopes.

Currently, however, astronomers on Earth can’t see the comet directly because it has moved behind the Sun as viewed from our planet. It will likely reappear in the night sky in mid-December, once it emerges from the Sun’s glare.

What Scientists Are Saying

In recent weeks, a research team from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Michigan State University announced that they had detected nickel in the gas surrounding 3I/ATLAS. The discovery provides a valuable clue about the comet’s chemical makeup. It hints that it may have originated in a high-temperature star system, where heavier elements like nickel could condense into solid form.

These findings could reshape scientists’ understanding of how materials form in other planetary systems and how interstellar comets differ from the ones native to our solar neighborhood.

However, not everyone is content with purely natural explanations. Avi Loeb, a prominent astrophysicist at Harvard University known for his bold hypotheses, has suggested that the comet’s odd behavior could point to something artificial.

Loeb told FOX 32 Chicago that the comet’s glow has shifted direction multiple times, appearing to change orientation toward and away from the Sun. He speculates that, if the object were an advanced probe or spacecraft, it might use the Sun’s gravity to alter its path—similar to how human-made probes perform gravitational assists.

“The problem is that we can’t observe it right now because it’s on the opposite side of the Sun,” Loeb explained. “If it were a technological object, that’s the perfect moment to perform a maneuver and adjust its trajectory.”

While Loeb’s remarks are partly tongue-in-cheek, they touch on a serious question: could interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS ever be of non-natural origin? He emphasizes that even if the odds are low, the implications would be extraordinary—and worth serious scientific consideration.

The Bigger Picture

For now, 3I/ATLAS remains an enigmatic traveler—a frozen relic from another star system silently cutting across our solar system. But experts agree this won’t be the last such discovery. With the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile set to begin full operations next year, astronomers expect to detect dozens of new interstellar visitors in the next decade.

“The key question,” Loeb said, “is what we’ll do if one of them turns out to be something truly different—perhaps even a piece of alien technology. We’ve never planned for that scenario, but maybe it’s time we start.”

Until then, scientists will continue to track Comet 3I/ATLAS as it fades back into the blackness of interstellar space—taking with it the secrets of a world far beyond our own.