ATLAS Comet Shocks Scientists: Fresh Questions Arise in NASA’s Latest Update
3I/ATLAS: The Interstellar Visitor With Mysteries In July 2025, astronomers using the ATLAS telescope in Chile discovered a new comet, later named 3I/ATLAS — the third confirmed interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system. Observations showed it was moving at high speed on a hyperbolic trajectory, meaning it is not gravitationally bound to the Sun and will not return. As 3I/ATLAS approached the Sun, scientists worldwide mobilized — space telescopes and ground observatories recorded data, eager to learn about the comet’s composition, behaviour, and origin. NASA confirmed that 3I/ATLAS reached perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 30 October 2025, just inside Mars’s orbit. The comet came no closer to Earth than about 1.8 astronomical units — roughly 170 million miles — so it poses no impact risk. Initial images showed a typical cometary coma — a fuzzy cloud of gas and dust surrounding a solid icy nucleus — and a tail, consistent w...