NASA conducted a briefing focused on the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS to put an end to speculations regarding the object’s artificial origin. The administration assures that there are no substantial facts to suggest an artificial origin. It’s merely a comet that happened to enter the Solar System at a specific angle.
The current size of the comet remains quite uncertain, with scientists determining a range from 440 meters to 5.6 km, presenting a disparity of more than an order of magnitude. At the time of detection, the comet was traveling at a speed of approximately 137,000 mph (221,000 km/h). Under the gravitational influence of the Sun, its speed increased to 153,000 mph (246,000 km/h) at its closest point to the Sun, known as the perihelion. When comet 3I/ATLAS exits our Solar System, it will be traveling at the same speed it entered.
The closest distance to Earth will be about 270 million km, nearly twice the distance from Earth to the Sun. The characteristics of 3I/ATLAS, including its color, speed, and direction, align with what we expect from a comet. The comet has an icy nucleus and a coma, which is a bright cloud of gas and dust surrounding the comet and emitted at an increasing rate as the comet approaches the Sun.
3I/ATLAS is on a so-called hyperbolic trajectory, meaning it moves too fast to be captured by the Sun’s gravity and, therefore, does not follow a closed orbit around the Sun. It’s simply passing through our Solar System. 3I/ATLAS came closest to the Sun on October 30, 2025, at a distance of about 130 million miles (210 million km), or 1.4 astronomical units (AU), just beyond Mars’s orbit. At that time, Earth was on the opposite side of the Sun.
This comet holds scientific significance because its differences from comets in our Solar System could provide insights into the composition of other solar systems. Further research is being conducted to evaluate whether its components include exotic materials not found in local comets, potentially signaling a different formation environment.
