NASA releases photo of comet 3I/Atlas that set the internet abuzz

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AL.com
NASA releases photo of fascinating interstellar object that set the internet abuzz
Leada Gore
Thu, November 20, 2025 at 8:35 AM EST
2 min read





It’s a comet.

That’s the official word from NASA about an interstellar object known as 3I/ATLAS. The object, first identified by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System in July, had scientists and the internet buzzing over the possibility that its movement and trajectory indicated it was a remnant of alien technology.

The newly released image, taken Sept. 15-17, show 3I/Atlas as it zoomed towards Mars.

The furor grew louder when the U.S. space agency confirmed 3I/Atlas is an interstellar object that has entered our solar system– only the third such object to have ever been spotted – following Comet 2I/Borisov that passed through in 2019 and ‘Oumuamua, a cigar-shaped object that appeared in 2017.

While acknowledging its unique nature, NASA was quick to quell the alien rumors.


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“I think it’s important that we talk about that. This object is a comet,” NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said, according to Reuters. “It looks and behaves like a comet. And all evidence points to it being a comet.”

Other NASA officials echoed that idea.

“It’s natural to wonder what it is. We love that the world wondered along with us,” Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said during a briefing, adding the comet is “our friendly solar system visitor.”

“We were quick to be able to say, ‘Yup, it definitely behaves like a comet. We certainly haven’t seen any technosignatures or anything from it that would lead us to believe it was anything other than a comet.”

3I/Atlas will fly closest to the Earth on about Friday, Dec. 19 at about 170 million miles, roughly twice the distance between the Earth and the sun. The comet poses no danger to Earth.

Read the original article on al.com.