On 1 July 2025, astronomers using the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, detected a faint, fast-moving object unlike anything seen before. <\/p>\n
The discovery, officially named 3I\/ATLAS (C\/2025 N1), marks only the third confirmed interstellar object ever observed – after \u02bbOumuamua in 2017 and 2I\/Borisov in 2019.<\/p>\n
But what exactly is 3I\/ATLAS, where is it going, and could this strange visitor from another star be more than just a comet?<\/p>\n
What is 3I\/ATLAS?<\/p>\n
3I\/ATLAS is largely believed to be a comet – it has a tail, is brightening as it approaches the Sun, and shows signs of dust and gas being released.<\/p>\n
Its name was derived from its origins: \u201c3\u201d for the third interstellar object found, \u201cI\u201d for interstellar, and \u201cATLAS\u201d for the telescope network that spotted it.<\/p>\n
What makes it extraordinary is where it came from. Its speed and trajectory show that it\u2019s not gravitationally bound to the Sun – meaning it must have originated in another star system and wandered into ours by chance.<\/p>\n
How fast is it travelling and where is it going?<\/p>\n
According to astronomers, 3I\/ATLAS is racing through space at more than 200,000 km\/h (around 61 km per second), and its speed is increasing as it approaches the Sun. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s following a hyperbolic orbit, which means that it\u2019s moving too quickly to be captured by the Sun\u2019s gravity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to kind of cruise through the inner solar system \u2013 in between Mars and Earth\u2019s orbit \u2013 and then it will fly past the sun,” Con Stoitsis, comet and meteor director at the Astronomical Society of Victoria, told The Guardian.<\/p>\n
“This one is on what we call a hyperbolic orbit. So it\u2019s not gravitationally bound to the sun. It\u2019s travelling much too fast, and so it will just fly out the other side of the solar system,” he added.<\/p>\n
According to NASA, the closest 3I\/Atlas will come to Earth is about 270 million kilometres.<\/p>\n
Could it be something more than a natural object?<\/p>\n
For most astronomers, 3I\/ATLAS is an exciting but natural phenomenon. But one prominent scientist – Professor Avi Loeb, a theoretical astrophysicist at Harvard University – has advocated the need for a closer examination of the object. <\/p>\n
Through the Galileo Project, which investigates potential evidence of extraterrestrial technology, Loeb has been asking provocative, eyebrow-raising questions about 3I\/ATLAS\u2019s origin. <\/p>\n
In a series of scientific essays published on Medium<\/strong><\/a>, he argues that scientists should still consider whether the object could be an alien technological – an artificial probe or artefact from another civilisation.<\/p>\n