3I/ATLAS: The Fastest Interstellar Comet Ever—Here’s What Scientists Are Saying
The newly confirmed comet 3I/ATLAS is the third identified interstellar object after 1I/ʻOumuamua and 2I/Borisov. Discovered on 1 July 2025 by the NASA‑funded ATLAS telescope in Chile, it is racing through the solar system on an extremely hyperbolic path at ∼68 km s⁻¹, will reach perihelion just inside Mars’s orbit on 29 October 2025, and poses no threat to Earth. Early images reveal a faint coma and short tail, confirming cometary activity. Because 3I/ATLAS was detected far from the Sun and months before perihelion, astronomers have an unprecedented window to characterise an interstellar comet’s composition, rotation, and size. Experts say the find heralds a coming flood of interstellar detections as next‑generation surveys like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory come fully online.
