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3I/ATLAS is a mad topic surrounded by speculations about aliens and other controversial takes. But there's a lot of real science about this fascinating objects. So, in this video we put together all the major discoveries and scientific papers about 3I/ATLAS. 3I/ATLAS Is Extremely Weird. But Not In The Ways You Think | 23:39 Fraser Cain | 476K subscribers | 74,119 views | October 10, 2025

Recent images purportedly depicting the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS during its closest approach to Mars last week have erupted in controversy online, as many took to social media with theories about what the object’s unusual shape could mean about its nature and origins. The new images obtained last week by NASA’s Perseverance rover appear to show 3I/ATLAS streaking through the Martian night sky as it passed through the field of view of the robotic explorer’s Right Navigation Camera (Navcam) from its position in Jezero Crater. The recent imagery was originally uploaded to NASA’s multimedia page in raw format. Since that time,...

We’re gonna need a bigger telescope. Scientists have discovered that the 3I/ATLAS — a Manhattan-sized interstellar object that potentially has alien tech — is much larger than previously thought, according to a new report. First discovered by NASA on July 1, the cosmic anomaly has been under watch by Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb and his team as it shoots across the solar system. The object, which is believed to be a comet, reportedly has interstellar origins, making it the third ever object from beyond the solar system ever detected after ‘Oumuamua, which was discovered in 2017, and 2I/Borisov in 2019....

The “Wow! Signal” was detected on August 15, 1977 as a strong narrowband radio signal by Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope. Its origin was inferred to be extraterrestrial. The latest natural explanation (accessible here) hypothesized that the “Wow! Signal” was caused by a sudden brightening of the hydrogen line emitted from an interstellar cloud, triggered by a strong transient radio source, such as a flare from a highly magnetized neutron star (magnetar). The “Wow! Signal” originated from the sky coordinates of Right Ascension (RA)=19h25m=291 degrees and Declination (Dec)=-27 degrees. On August 12, 1977, the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS was...

Although most scientists have concluded that the mysterious object is comet, NASA's Perseverance rover on the Martian surface sent back photos showing what appears to be a massive cylindrical shape.

According to the team the polarimetric behavior is "significantly different from all known comets (either interstellar or bound to our Solar System)". 3I/ATLAS imaged by NASA’s Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx). Image credit: NASA/SPHEREx. ================================================================= Ateam of astronomers have presented the first polarimetric observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, finding that it has extreme negative polarization. On July 1, 2025, astronomers spotted an object moving through the Solar System at nearly twice the velocity of previous interstellar visitors ‘Oumuamua and Comet Borisov. The object was confirmed to be an interstellar comet with...

Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of electrically-charged molecules in space shaped like soccer balls, shedding light on the mysterious contents of the interstellar medium (ISM) - the gas and dust that fills interstellar space. The molecules … are a form of carbon called "Buckminsterfullerene," also known as "Buckyballs," which consists of 60 carbon atoms (C60) arranged in a hollow sphere. C60 has been found in some rare cases on Earth in rocks and minerals, and can also turn up in high-temperature combustion soot. C60 has been seen in space before. However, this is the first...

The origins of Comet 96P/Machholz (96P) have puzzled scientists for decades since its discovery. It is a four-mile-wide “sungrazer” object with a host of weird properties that suggest it may be an interloper from another star system. For instance, 96P’s composition is extremely unique and its orbit is highly tilted, causing it to pass closer to the Sun than almost any other comet. These features, among others, suggest that 96P may have been rerouted into our solar system by a chance encounter with Jupiter after its voyage across interstellar space. In an ironic twist, however, the comet's interactions with Jupiter...

Explanation: From somewhere else in the Milky Way galaxy, Comet 2I/Borisov was just visiting the Solar System. Discovered by amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov on August 30, 2019, the first known interstellar comet is seen in these two Hubble Space Telescope images from November and December 2019. On the left, a distant background galaxy near the line-of-sight to Borisov is blurred as Hubble tracked the speeding comet and dust tail about 327 million kilometers from Earth. At right, 2I/Borisov appears shortly after perihelion, its closest approach to Sun. European Southern Observatory observations indicate that this comet may never have passed close...

In the first of these new images, taken on Nov. 16, the comet was approximately 203 million miles from Earth, seen in front of a distant spiral galaxy known as 2MASX J10500165-0152029, according to a NASA statement. You can see the comet's tail of dust up to the right. You can also see that the object's bright core looks smudged, as Hubble was imaging the object while also tracking its movement. In both images, 2I/Borisov has been artificially colored blue so that details can be seen in the coma, or envelope of dust and material that surrounds the comet's core,...

From the tallest peak in Hawaii to a high plateau in the Andes, some of the biggest telescopes on Earth will point towards a faint smudge of light over the next few weeks. The same patch of sky will draw the attention of Gennady Borisov, an amateur astronomer in Crimea, and many other hobbyists who will sacrifice proper sleep and doze through their day jobs rather than miss this golden opportunity. What they’re looking for is a rare visitor that is about to make its closest approach to the Sun. After that, they have just months to grab as much...

An Astronomer has released our best and sharpest look to date at Comet Borisov, the second ever-known interstellar object to visit our solar system, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to capture the new image. The comet was travelling at around 110,000 miles per hour when University of California Los Angeles astronomer David Jewitt studied it on October 12, 2019, when it was 260 million miles away. The comet — which is named after the Crimean astronomer who discovered it — will pass within around 177,000 miles (285,000 kilometres) of the Earth in early December this year. It is trailing behind...

In his resignation-by-tweet from the CDC, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Monkeypox Czar and LGBTQ+ advocate Demetre Daskalakis, made a telling comment: “Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world.”His words paralleled the words of fictional scientist Dr. Mann from the film Interstellar who, just seconds before his own recklessness sent him into the vacuum of space, declared: “This isn’t about my life, or Cooper’s life, this is about all mankind.”And President Biden made an eerily similar statement...

Astronomers have been fascinated after spotting an object earlier this year that came from interstellar space as is now hurtling through our inner solar system. Since then, they've been using powerful telescopes to study the mysterious object, trying to understand its unusual composition and exact origins. Most agree that it's probably a comet, albeit an unusual one, though at least one has posited that it could be a remnant of an advanced extraterrestrial civilization — a colorful claim, but one that NASA has disputed as a flight of fancy. Regardless, it's an interesting visitor. In a paper presented at the...

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and Harvard Scientist Avi Loeb are calling for NASA to monitor the Manhattan-sized interstellar object 3I/ATLAS as it passes the sun on Halloween Eve to ensure it does not drop off “mini probes” that could invade Earth. Luna (R-Fla.) and the Ivy league astrophysicist appeared together on a podcast and called for both the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Jupiter’s Juno probe to adjust their current courses and monitor the object that NASA has deemed a comet. “If we are visited by a technological object like 3I/ATLAS — it could either visit us or release some mini-probes...

A Metal Pattern That Shouldn't Exist in Nature Something unprecedented is happening with our alien visitor, and some scientists are asking the unthinkable: could 3I/ATLAS be artificial? Two of the world's most powerful telescopes have detected a metal emission pattern from 3I/ATLAS that breaks every known rule of natural space chemistry. The object is producing streams of atomic nickel vapor while showing absolutely no trace of iron, a combination so rare it has never been observed in any natural space object. In the cosmos, nickel and iron are cosmic twins, forged together in stellar cores and found together in virtually...

Space can surprise even those who spend their lives studying it. People often think of our solar system as just a few planets and a bunch of empty space. Yet new observations suggest we have been living inside a hot, less dense region, and that there may even be a strange cosmic channel connecting us to distant stars. After years of careful mapping, a new analysis reveals what appears to be a channel of hot, low-density plasma stretching out from our solar system toward distant constellations. Astronomers from the Max Planck Institute recently confirmed it using data from the eRosita...

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the sharpest image yet of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which is currently passing through our Solar System. Observations by Hubble have enabled astronomers to better estimate the size of the comet's nucleus, which is made of dust and ice. Hubble managed to capture a dust plume being ejected by the comet, as well as a glimpse of a dust tail streaming away from its nucleus. SNIP

Astronomers have spotted a new comet, moving on a trajectory that indicates that it whizzed into our solar system from interstellar space and is just passing through. It's only the third time scientists have discovered this kind of visitor from outside our solar system. The first two, 'Oumuamua and Comet Borisov, intrigued astronomers because of the chance to observe pieces from another star system beyond our own. "This is like our chance to randomly sample what's going on in the rest of the galaxy," University of Oxford astrophysicist Chris Lintott recently told NPR, saying he and most other researchers really...

For only the 3rd time in history, astronomers have found an interstellar object hurtling through our solar system...The Minor Planet Center (MPC) confirmed its new designation on July 2, 2025, as 3I/ATLAS, or C/2025 N1. The MPC also said:There are tentative reports of cometary activity … with a marginal coma and a short 3-arcsecond tail....We are currently being visited by what appears to be a comet from another solar system...We only know of two other interstellar objects that have entered into our solar system before, 'Oumuamua and Comet 2I/Borisov. The nature of 'Oumuamua is still a matter of debate, and...