3I/Atlas Changes Colour for the Third Time as It Becomes Visible to Earth-Based Telescope Again

3I/Atlas has returned to our visibility. The third interstellar object, however, doesn't stop surprising the scientific community as it shows up with yet another hue — it appears to have developed a faint bluish shade.​

3I/ATLAS Changes Colour For The Third Time

The cosmic body that has caught the attention of several researchers and has been a topic of discussion on social media due to its questionable nature wasn't visible from Earth-based telescopes for a time as it approached Mars, because it was on the other side of the Sun.

The third guest from installer space is back on our radar, and it returns with another surprise — it changes colour for the third time. Experts noticed that it has a faint blueish colour.

When 3I/ATLAS approached the Sun, many noticed it turned blue. At one point, it was even 'distinctly bluer than the sun.'​

Why 3I/ATLAS' Blue Colour Baffles The Scientific Community?

3I/ATLAS' nature is difficult to explain; that's why many continue to study it. The only definite information about it is that it is the third interstellar object in our galaxy.

Interstellar objects are celestial bodies that are either asteroids or comets that originate outside the solar system. These cosmic guests travel through interstellar space, hence the name.

3I/ATLAS' blue colour has raised eyebrows because it somewhat confirmed that it's not a comet. Initially, it was red but turned blue when it approached the Sun.

Normally, comets appear red as they approach the Sun. According to Avi Loeb, a theoretical physicist and astrophysicist at Harvard University and the head of the Galileo Project, who has been following the developments of 3I/ATLAS, dust scatters sunlight, giving it a red hue.

Also, since its surface is 'colder than the 5,800 degrees Kelvin at the photosphere of the Sun', it is expected to turn 'redder.' Instead, 3I/ATLAS turned blue as it got close to the Sun.

'We must therefore add the blue colour at perihelion as a ninth anomaly to the list of unexpected properties,' Loeb concluded.

Avi Loeb Invites Kim Kardashian To His 3I/ATLAS Research Team​

Avi Loeb reached out to NASA to access data on the much-talked-about interstellar object from its Principal Investigator for the HiRise camera. The space administration, however, hasn't responded to his request.

Reality star and business mogul Kim Kardashian asked the 'tea' on 3I/ATLAS on X (formerly Twitter), and Sean Duffy, NASA Acting Administrator and US Secretary of Transportation, immediately responded. Kardashian got Duffy's attention after the SKIMS founder publicly admitted she wasn't convinced the 1969 moon landing was real.

Duffy clarified to Kardashian that 'we've been to the moon before...6 times.' He also explained to Kardashian what 3I/ATLAS while assuring her that the mysterious interstellar visitor is 'No aliens' and 'No threat to life here on Earth.'

Loeb said Kardashian was welcome to his research team focusing on 3I/ATLAS, and he would explain to her all the anomalies they observed. Natasha Zouves on NewsNation suggested to Loeb during an interview they should let Kardashian ask NASA their questions, as the celebrity seems to receive immediate responses from the organisation.

Hopefully, the science community will find answers to their questions about 3I/ATLAS soon because it has been a phenomenon keeping the world up for months.

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