The mysterious interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is hurtling through space towards Jupiter, and now the UN think the Earth’s planetary defences might be about to catch a glimpse
The UN has confirmed our planetary defences will catch a glimpse of the notorious “alien spaceship” 3I/ATLAS while it travels through our solar system.
For the last few months, the scientific community has been enthralled with the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, with many split on what it actually is. One particular expert – Avi Loeb – has theorised that NASA is wrong when it says it’s a “comet”, and that in actual fact it may be an extraterrestrial object.
Whatever it is, it appears to be getting closer to Earth. The UN wrote on its website: “While it poses no threat, comet 3I/ATLAS presents a great opportunity for the IAWN community to perform an observing exercise due to its prolonged observability from Earth and high interest to the scientific community.
“IAWN had been planning to do a Fall 2025 comet campaign since 2024 to exercise capabilities for measuring the position of comets, which pose additional astrometric challenges as they appear as fuzzy extended objects compared to point–like asteroids in a telescope’s field of view.”
3I/ATLAS is a freshly spotted interstellar comet, only the third ever identified, currently journeying through our solar system.
Scientists maintain that it’s an active comet, featuring a solid frozen core and a gas-and-dust envelope known as a coma, which develops when the Sun warms the nucleus.
However, theoretical physicist Avi Loeb has been spearheading theories that the mysterious 3I/ATLAS comet might actually be a “spaceship”. His proposition that we’re not alone in the cosmos created such uproar that NASA organised a press briefing to tackle the speculation.
He now asserts that “if the rare coincidence between the perijove distance (minimum distance between an orbiting body and the planet Jupiter) of 3I/ATLAS and the Hill radius will materialize (on a journey to Jupiter), it might flag a technological signature.”
The comet/spacecraft is expected to collide with Jupiter around March, potentially revealing evidence of extraterrestrial technology at that moment.
Put simply, we might finally discover in March what’s truly happening – something Avi Loeb stressed “not to be settled by the authority of NASA officials in press conferences”.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
#confirms #observation #interstellar #comet #3IATLAS #passes #solar #system
