After 3I\/ATLAS made its closest approach to the sun, the comet is expected to remain out of view of Earth until around December. Here’s the latest.<\/p>\n
A celestial outsider known as 3I\/ATLAS has made its closest rendezvous with the sun as it continues to rove through our cosmic neighborhood<\/a> and add to its growing renown.<\/p>\n Originating from a completely different star from our own sun, 3I\/ATLAS made a name for itself<\/a> as the third-ever confirmed interstellar visitor to trespass into Earth’s solar system. There’s also a strong faction of “fans” \u2013 if that’s the word \u2013 who are becoming convinced that the object isn’t a comet, as the majority of the world’s astronomers insist, but an extraterrestrial spaceship<\/a>.<\/p>\n And recently, Kim Kardashian<\/a> became one of the latest major figures to express her curiosity in the mysterious object<\/a> that has garnered no shortage of public obsession in the months since its discovery.<\/p>\n Here’s the latest on comet 3I\/ATLAS as it makes its closest approach to the sun and remains hidden in space<\/a> for a few more weeks from Earth’s view.<\/p>\n What is 3I\/ATLAS? How the comet got its name<\/p>\n An object known as 3I\/ATLAS<\/a> made news in July when it was confirmed to have originated outside Earth’s solar system<\/a>.<\/p>\n A telescope in Chile \u2013 part of the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS \u2013 was the first to spot what initially looked like an unknown asteroid on a path approaching Earth\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n The observation was\u00a0reported to the\u00a0Minor Planet Center<\/a>, the official authority for\u00a0observing and reporting new asteroids<\/a>, comets and other small bodies in the solar system. The object, eventually confirmed to almost certainly be a comet and named 3I\/ATLAS, was later confirmed to have interstellar origins after follow-up observations.<\/p>\n That makes it just the third-ever object originating from another star outside Earth’s solar system to be spotted in our cosmic neighborhood.<\/p>\n When it was discovered, the interstellar visitor was whizzing at about 137,000 miles per hour, though it’s expected to only pick up speed as it continues its journey toward the sun, according to NASA.<\/p>\n When will 3I\/ATLAS make its closest approach to the sun?<\/p>\n The closest 3I\/ATLAS will approach Earth is about 170 million miles, according to NASA.<\/p>\n The object, which will instead pass a little closer to the sun, was expected to come within 130 million miles on Oct. 30. For reference, the sun is about 93 million miles away from Earth.<\/p>\n In the lead-up to 3I\/ATLAS making its closest approach to the sun \u2013 a moment known as perihelion\u00a0\u2013 the object was expected to steadily lose mass as frozen gases on its surface transformed into vapor, carrying dust and ice into space, according to the European Space Agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n For the time being, 3I\/ATLAS will remain on the opposite side of the sun from Earth, making it impossible to observe from the ground. The object is projected to reappear in December on the other side of the sun, making it visible once again from Earth.<\/p>\n Is 3I\/ATLAS an alien spaceship?<\/p>\n The strange outsider’s jaunt through Earth’s cosmic neighborhood has sparked widespread public fascination and plenty of outlandish conspiracy theories regarding its nature.<\/p>\n One particularly famous idea \u2013 put forth by a Harvard astrophysicist named Avi Loeb \u2013 is that 3I\/ATLAS could be an alien spaceship<\/a>. Though Loeb has conceded on publishing platform Medium that the object is “most likely a comet of natural origin<\/a>,” he has not ruled out the possibility that it could be alien technology.<\/p>\n “The implication of alien technology would be huge and therefore we must take this possibility seriously,” Loeb wrote at the end of October.<\/p>\n Kim Kardashian asks NASA head, ‘what’s the tea on 3I\/ATLAS?’<\/p>\n Loeb’s theory, though, is a major reason why obsession with 3I\/ATLAS has transcended the academic world of astronomy and made the object a pop culture phenomenon.<\/p>\n Case in point: Pop culture icon Kim Kardashian, a reality television star with hundreds of millions of social media followers, recently sought the “tea” \u2013 slang for “details” \u2013 on the interstellar visitor. In a recent exchange on X with NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy<\/a>, Kardashian asked<\/a> “what\u2019s the tea on 3I Atlas?!?!!!!!!!?????”<\/p>\n Duffy, an appointee of President Donald Trump<\/a>, responded<\/a> with a brief explanation on how the comet got its name, and added an important disclaimer: “No aliens. No threat to life here on Earth.”<\/p>\n Great question!@NASA<\/a>\u2019s observations show that this is the third interstellar comet to pass through our solar system. No aliens. No threat to life here on Earth.<\/p>\n 3 = the third \u2014 NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy (@SecDuffyNASA) October 30, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The exchange between the two was initially prompted when Duffy shared a clip on X of Kardashian<\/a>, 45, stating her belief that the historic 1969 moon landing “didn’t happen” during an episode of “The Kardashians.” Duffy, who pushed back on Kardashian’s claim, later invited the billionaire mogul to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to see astronauts soon launch on a moon mission under NASA’s Artemis program<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jupiter spacecraft could be next to get a look at 3I\/ATLAS<\/p>\n Unlike comets bound to the sun’s gravity, 3I\/ATLAS is traveling on a hyperbolic orbit that will eventually carry it out of the solar system and back into interstellar space. That’s why, even though the comet poses no threat to Earth, the world’s astronomers and space agencies are\u00a0racing to study planetary material\u00a0that formed from another star<\/a>.<\/p>\n A fleet of NASA space telescopes<\/a> and ESA Mars orbiters have already been returning plenty of images and data back to Earth gathered from glimpsing the comet. For instance, data from the Hubble Space Telescope<\/a> is what allowed astronomers to\u00a0estimate the size<\/a>\u00a0of the comet\u2019s solid, icy nucleus as anywhere from 1,000 feet to 3.5 miles wide.<\/p>\n Up next, the ESA\u2019s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice<\/a>) will observe the comet between Nov. 2 and Nov. 25 when the object is expected to be in a “very active state” following its closest approach to the sun. But because the spacecraft is so far from Earth on the other side of the sun, scientists don’t expect to receive its observations until February<\/a>, according to the ESA.<\/p>\n Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com<\/p>\n
I = interstellar, meaning from beyond our solar system
ATLAS = discovered by our Asteroid\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/StDNRqvRCJ<\/a><\/p>\n