Tue Jul 08 10:40:00 UTC 2025: ## Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Buzzes Through Our Solar System, Posing No Threat to Earth

**Rio Hurtado, Chile** – Astronomers have discovered a new interstellar visitor streaking through our solar system. Designated 3I/ATLAS, the comet was first spotted by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Chile on July 1, 2025. Subsequent analysis of archived observations, dating back to June 14, confirms its extraterrestrial origin.

Like ‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov before it, 3I/ATLAS is categorized as interstellar due to its hyperbolic trajectory. This means it’s traveling too fast to be gravitationally bound to the Sun and is simply passing through our cosmic neighborhood before continuing its journey into the vast expanse of interstellar space.

“The orbit of 3I/ATLAS clearly indicates it originated from outside our solar system,” explains a NASA statement. The comet appears to be approaching from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, home to the Milky Way’s central region.

Currently hurtling through space at a blazing speed of 137,000 miles per hour, 3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to the Sun around October 30, 2025, coming within 1.4 astronomical units (AU) – about 130 million miles – just inside the orbit of Mars.

**No Danger to Earth**

Despite its inner solar system journey, 3I/ATLAS poses no threat to Earth. The closest it will approach our planet is 1.8 AU, or approximately 170 million miles away.

Astronomers worldwide are now focused on studying the comet’s size and physical properties. Observations confirm that 3I/ATLAS is active, meaning it possesses an icy nucleus and a coma, a bright cloud of gas and dust that surrounds a comet as it approaches the Sun. This activity is what classifies it as a comet rather than an asteroid.

3I/ATLAS should remain visible to ground-based telescopes through September 2025, before passing too close to the Sun for observation. It will reappear on the other side of the Sun by early December 2025, allowing for renewed observations.

**A Cosmic Wanderer**

The ATLAS team, after whom the comet is named, believes 3I/ATLAS formed in another star system and was ejected into interstellar space millions or even billions of years ago. It has since been drifting through the galaxy until its recent encounter with our solar system.

The discovery of 3I/ATLAS offers a rare opportunity to study material from another star system, providing valuable insights into the formation and evolution of planetary systems beyond our own. This fleeting visitor will eventually leave our solar system, carrying its secrets with it as it continues its eternal voyage through the cosmos.

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