Comet 3i Atlas crashes into Earth and a wave of widespread destruction starts shaking our planet. Ginormous tsunamis are swallowing coastlines. Devastating earthquakes are cracking the ground. Hot debris is igniting massive firestorms. Thick clouds of dust are blocking the sun. Now, that’s what could happen if ThreeI Atlas, a massive comet traveling through the solar system, collided with our planet. But can this disaster actually occur? When will ThreeI Atlas be the closest to Earth? Let’s figure this out. First of all, this comet turned out to be way larger than we previously thought. Its weight is likely a whopping 33 billion tons. Let’s throw in a few comparisons to put it into perspective. The Eiffel Tower weighs about 10,000 tons. So 33 billion tons is roughly the weight of 3. 3 million Eiffel Towers. Impressive. Next, all the cars on Earth, and we’re talking about 1.
5 billion vehicles, each weighing about 1. 5 tons, weigh approximately 2. 25 billion tons. This means that the comet’s mass is 15 times greater than the combined weight of literally all the cars on the planet. And finally, compared to buildings on Earth, 33 billion tons is equal to several large metropolitan areas made entirely of steel and concrete. But the whole idea of how big this comet is fades in comparison with an even crazier fact about it. It could be unknown technology from a different galaxy and some experts are somewhat sure about that. But why? Three Atlas was first spotted in July by NASA’s asteroid terrestrial impact last alert system. A bit later, the US space agency confirmed that the object was an interstellar object, only the third we have found so far.
before it was comet 2 I Boris that passed through in 2019 and Amamua a weird elongated object that appeared in 2017 but the newest comet with its up to 3. 5 m nucleus dwarfs Amua Mua which is just a/4 mile long and Borosov which is about6 mi across by the way some believe that the comet could be even bigger up to almost 7 mi But scientists haven’t found any proof of that yet. Besides its size, three Atlas is different in other ways too, which makes some scientists question its origins. The object is shedding huge amounts of carbon dioxide and dust while zooming towards the sun. It’s most likely the proof that Threei Atlas is more massive than the other two interstellar objects by 3 to five orders of magnitude, which is basically a serious anomaly. The comet is also traveling toward the sun incredibly fast.
We’re talking about around 130,000 mph, which is almost 170 times the speed of sound. Another weird thing is that this interstellar object is following a straight trajectory unlike anything else in the solar system. Most space bodies move along curved orbits due to the force of gravity. That made some researchers believe that three Atlas might be a probe sent by another civilization to explore Earth, possibly with not so friendly intentions. Their theory is that the object could be a technological artifact, a sign of cosmic intelligence. You see, the comet moves in a pretty weird way that doesn’t totally line up with just gravity. Its trajectory also takes it close to Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. And researchers think that these planets might be especially interesting for another civilization to pass by. Another bizarre fact, the space traveler also spins backward compared to most stuff in our solar system.
This might be necessary to make it easier for threeey atlas to get near Earth without much resistance. Some scientists think the comet’s odd spin and flight path could help whoever or whatever made it take super precise measurements of the planets, things like their orbits and sizes to plan a perfect route through the solar system. If ThreeI Atlas suddenly changes direction in a big way, that might mean it’s using some kind of built-in engine instead of just drifting through space. There’s also another theory that suggests it could be a piece of unknown tech that’s still active. There’s no need to worry though, at least at the moment. The comet isn’t coming anywhere near us. NASA says it’ll stay around 150 million miles from Earth when heading toward the sun. So, the question is, where do such space visitors come from?
Astronomers have found that the three interstellar objects we discovered came from totally different parts of the galaxy, and each of them has its own age and background. Three Atlas turned out to be the oldest, about 4. 6 6 billion years old and it came from the Milky Way’s thick disc. That’s a region filled with older stars that have fewer heavy elements. One eye AMA MUA is much younger, around 1 billion years old. It came from the galaxy’s thin disc, where new stars are still being born. Amua Mua, Hawaiian for a messenger from afar arriving first, was the first known object from another star system to pass through our solar system. Basically, the first interstellar guest. It was super stretched out, about 10 times longer than it was wide, unlike anything else we’ve spotted in space.
It also sped up in a way that couldn’t be explained by gravity alone. Changes in brightness showed it was tumbling end over end instead of spinning smoothly. At first, scientists were confused because the space body didn’t have a tail or cloud of gas like a normal comet, even though it was accelerating. That led to a lot of debate about what it was made of and where it came from. Just like with three Atlas, some people wondered if it could be technology created by a space civilization. But most scientists now think Amua Mua was a totally natural object, just a really weird one. The best guess is that it was a comet releasing invisible hydrogen gas which caused it to speed up slightly. Sadly, by the time astronomers found it, it was already heading out of the solar system. So, there wasn’t much time to study it.
As for twoey Boros, it sits in between at roughly 1. 7 billion years old. It also came from the thin disc. It was the first confirmed comet to come from another star system, and it gave scientists a super rare peak at what materials beyond our solar system were made of. The comet was discovered in 2019 by Gennady Borosov, an amateur astronomer who actually built his own telescope to search for faint space objects. Unlike the first interstellar visitor, Amua Mua, which looked more like an asteroid, Forosov behaved like a classic comet, it had a bright coma. That’s a temporary fuzzy atmosphere of gas and dust forming around the comet’s nucleus as it approaches the sun. Plus, it boasted a long tail of dust and gas. Studying two Borosov helped researchers learn more about how other planetary systems form.
Observations showed that its dust grains were compact and that the amount of gases like carbon dioxide changed a lot as it approached the sun. It could mean that the comet formed under very different conditions than anything else in our solar system. Now 2I Borosov is speeding away from the sun and will never return. But it allowed scientists to take a unique glimpse into the chemistry and history of distant worlds. Interestingly, the differences between these three space objects suggest that interstellar visitors have been getting kicked out of planetary systems all across the galaxy for billions of years. So, it’s not something new. To figure out if ThreeI Atlas might be some kind of probe from another planet, scientists are checking for any signs of technology like strange radio signals, electric activity, and weird movement patterns.
If the comet suddenly changes course or drops smaller objects nearby, it might be our cue. But even though threeey atlas is moving in a pretty wild and energetic way, it’s most likely just a natural interstellar object passing through. Researchers say they’ll need a lot more proof before anyone can seriously say the space wanderer was sent by someone from another planet. What do you think about this newly discovered space traveler? Share your opinion in the comments. A large space probe is nearing the sun. The terrifying heat of the star begins to melt the shell of the spacecraft. Another moment and the probe bursts into flames. In no time, it disintegrates in a powerful explosion. Ah, what a sad ending. If it were true, it was not a probe. It was a comet known as Threeey Atlas. And despite everything people say, it’s still intact and thriving.
The thing is, there is a rumor online saying that comet Three Atlas exploded when it got closest to the sun. But astronomers say this is not true. There was no explosion. And the comet’s nucleus still looks whole and undamaged, which is kind of surprising since comets that pass very close to the sun usually go through some serious changes. You see, comets are made of a mix of ice, dust, and rocky material, which is why they’re often called dirty snowballs. So, when they come close to the sun, the intense heat from our star makes their ice turn into gas. This new gas can burst out in huge jets, form a cloud around the comet called a coma, and or be pushed away into a long tail.
Sunlight makes all of these parts shine more brightly, and even people with small or simple telescopes can study the comet if the viewing conditions are good. But aside from being a breathtaking view, such a close approach can break off pieces of a comet or even tear its whole nucleus apart. Now it’s true that some comets survive this process but many especially small ones or comets entering the inner solar system for the first time break into pieces or disappear completely. Well threeey atlas acted differently. So there it reached its closest point to the sun on October 29th 2025. This point is called the perhion. At that moment the comet was about 130 million miles from the sun. That’s about 1 and 1/2 times the distance between the sun and our planet. The comet was also on the opposite side of the sun from Earth.
So, the star was blocking it from our view and we couldn’t see the comet anyway. Even though three Atlas could hypothetically break apart or release lots of fragments, it didn’t. The nucleus stayed intact. And this made the comet’s behavior even more unusual and interesting to scientists. They looked closely at the new photos and said everything looked normal. Now, interestingly, the day before, some people thought the comet had broken into pieces after it came out from behind the far side of the sun. This idea became popular after a blog post said the comet had lost a lot of mass. So, to make this claim, the blog used photos taken on November 9th by two small telescopes in Spain. The pictures show jets of gas coming out of the comet.
The scientists used this to estimate how much material was coming off the comet, claiming that it should have broken into at least 16 pieces. However, many scientists have questioned this statement. Most researchers say there’s no proof that the comet exploded. One scientist who studies the comet says that all the images he had seen showed a completely normal, healthy comet. There’s no sign that the main body of the comet has broken apart. Still, now that the comet is coming back into view, astronomers are watching it very carefully. They want to learn more about the comet’s materials and structure. Right now, if you look at it from Earth, the comet seems to be slowly moving higher in the eastern sky. If the weather is good, people in many parts of the northern hemisphere can see it with a small telescope like this one with a 6-in lens.
And many do pay attention to the comet. Since it was discovered in July, it has become the center of many curious ideas. Some people are sure that the comet, which comes from outside our solar system and might be more than 7 billion years old, could be a probe sent by a different civilization. Now, most astronomers strongly disagree, of course. They believe the comet is completely natural and comes from another star system somewhere in the Milky Way. And this is actually exciting. Comet 3i Atlas is only the third interstellar comet ever seen and it is the largest one of its kind. Before it was comet 2i Borosoft that passed through in 2019 and AmuA Mua a weird and long aadated object that appeared in 2017.
But three Atlas with its up to three and a half mile nucleus dwarfs a Mua Mua which was just a/4 mile long and Boris which is about 3/10en of a mile across. Plus three Atlas may be the oldest comet humans have ever observed. Omo Mua is much younger around 1 billion years old. It came from the galaxy’s thin disc where new stars are still being born. It was the first known object from another star system to pass through our solar system. Basically our first interstellar guest. It was super stretched out about 10 times longer than it was wide unlike anything else we’ve spotted in space. As for two I Boris, it sits in between at roughly 1. 7 billion years old. It also came from the thin disc.
It was the first confirmed comet to come from another star system, and it gave scientists a super rare peak at what materials beyond our solar system were made of. Unlike the first interstellar visitor, Umo Mua, which looked more like an asteroid, Borisoft behaved like a classic comet, it had a bright coma, a temporary fuzzy atmosphere of gas and dust forming around the comet’s nucleus as it approaches the sun. Plus, it also had a long tail of dust and gas. Now, two I Boris is speeding away from the sun and will never return. But it allowed scientists to take a glimpse into the chemistry and history of distant worlds. Now, let’s get back to comet 3 IALS. It will pass closest to Earth on December 19th. Until then, scientists will make many more observations. People will also make many new claims about the comet, that’s for sure.
But it’s best to be cautious and not believe everything immediately. By the way, even though you can’t see this famous comet with your own eyes or with a regular telescope, hey, that’s good news. A powerful telescope in Italy is streaming it live for free. Wo! So, anyone can actually watch this mysterious object as it passes by. Scientists think this comet weighs about 33 billion tons. That’s a big number. How about we make a few comparisons? The Eiffel Tower weighs around 10,000 tons. So 33 billion tons is the same as 3. 3 million Eiffel Towers. And if you decide to compare the space visitor to buildings, well, 33 billion tons is about the same as the weight of several huge city areas made entirely of steel and concrete.
Now, 3II Atlas was first noticed in July by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System, which if you’re paying attention, is where they got the nickname Atlas. Shortly after, NASA confirmed that the object wasn’t from our solar system at all. Now, besides being huge, 3i Atlas is unusual in several other ways. As it moves through the solar system, it’s releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide and dust. So this suggests that three eye atlas is 3 to five orders of magnitude which means 1,00 to 100,000 times more massive than the two other known interstellar visitors. Such an enormous difference is a real scientific mystery. It’s also traveling incredibly fast, about 150,000 mph, which is almost 200 times the speed of sound. Hey, that will get you a speeding ticket.
And unlike objects in our solar system which follow curved paths because of gravity, three Atlas is moving on a nearly straight line. That alone makes it stand out. Now that the comet has moved past the sun, telescopes on Earth can see it again. Comet 3i Atlas is important to us because it’s only the third interstellar visitor we’ve ever seen, and it may be the biggest and oldest one yet. And it didn’t break apart near the sun like some other comets. By studying it, scientists can learn what materials exist in other star systems and better understand how comets and even planets form in our galaxy. Well, the space object threeey atlas just whipped past the sun and instead of clearing things up, the new images made everything even stranger. Because if this thing really is a comet, then it’s the strangest comet ever recorded.
