For four months, social media has drawn skywatchers and lovers of galactic lure to a speck spotted in July.

A new visitor from beyond our solar system  

University of Texas at Arlington Astrophysicist Levent Gurdemir said the visitor to our solar system probably originated from a disk around another star. It became known as 3I/Atlas.

“3I/Atlas, as much as we can tell so far, is a comet coming from interstellar comet coming from outside of the solar system,” Gurdemir said.

According to NASA, an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System in Chile reported the speeding object on July 1. NASA also noted that there are additional discoveries dating back to June 14.  It was called “3I” because it is the third known interstellar object from outside of our solar system. The ATLAS comes from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System.

“We’ve seen a lot of things in the sky moving across, sometimes it’s a satellite,” Gurdemir said. “Sometimes it’s a meteor. Sometimes it’s an— you know, the comet.”

Scientists debate what 3I/Atlas could be  

Speculation about what 3I/Atlas could be intensified in September because it had not come close enough to the Earth’s sun to form a tail.

“I think we should use all assets at our disposal to get as much information as possible,” Dr. Avi Loeb said. “Because when you have a visitor to your backyard, you know, the first thing you need to do is figure out what the intent is.”

Loeb is a professor of science at Harvard University and the Director of the school’s Institute for Theory and Computation. He’s become the tracking captain for 3I/Atlas.

“So we are entering a new era where we can check if all the objects that are arriving at our backyard from the cosmic street,” Loeb said.

He frequently writes about the 3I/Atlas on a platform called Medium. Loeb doesn’t shy away from the possibility of alien life forms, but he doesn’t exactly wear a t-shirt to endorse it.

“We think about existential threats from artificial intelligence, from global climate change, from an asteroid impact, but we don’t discuss alien technology,” He said. “And my advice on a blind date of interstellar proportions is to observe rather than have an opinion to start with.”

Scientists say 3I/Atlas came closest to Mars in October. Its path this month put it in the path of the warm rays of our sun, where a tail became more visible. The 3.5-mile solar object is traveling at 137,000 miles per hour, NASA said.

Scientists believe it will fly by Earth, but it won’t impact it by December 19. It’ll be some 170 million miles away.

No threat to Earth, experts say  

“So that’s going to be around twice the distance of  Earth and sun, it is going to be passing the Earth on the other side. So there’s a lot of distance,” Gurdemir said.

Gurdemir is also the director of the Planetarium at UTA, where they can track various celestial events in space, including interstellar visitors. Life forms from other galaxies and planets is a much deeper conversation for him. That could mean water or a plant. 3I/Atlas does mean alien forces will veer toward Earth with high-powered lasers zapping down buildings.

“There is no information to say this is anything other than all the ordinary visiting comment, which happened before in  2017 in 2019, and now in 2025,” he said.

1I Oumuamua was reported in 2017.  2I Borisov was documented two years later. Loeb said we all have to be cosmically modest about what “out there.” He is elated to see the interest in science.

“A sense of curiosity, wonder about the universe, considering all possibilities and not ridiculing them the way you find on social media, where people have opinions and pretend to be the adults in the room,” Loeb said.

The 3I/Atlas is best captured and seen through a professional and reputable telescope, as recommended by Gurdemir. It’s not something you can run out to the open country with a telescope to see, he said/

In March, the comet will start leaving our solar system. Pictures of its shrinking tail will likely emerge as well.

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