Did 3I/ATLAS Just Change It's Shape? - New Images Go Viral Shocking Social Media

3I/Atlas is yet again going viral, as a new photo set shows the interstellar visitor seemingly changing shape from night to night. It led to a massive surge of excitement and speculation across social media.

According to the viral post, each set of images painted an entirely different picture, sometimes a smooth, disc form, on other nights, streams or jets erupted, and then at times, the comet appeared as a disc with no visible coma, and even sometimes brightly glowing and 'active', only to revert to a conventional comet appearance the next day.

The Viral 3I/ATLAS Theory: Is the Comet Shape-Shifting?

Now, for followers of this celebrity comet, the idea that 3I/ATLAS might be shapeshifting, perhaps even more than a comet, is both thrilling and mysterious. But is there any evidence to support this 'shape-shifting' claim, or is it simply the result of normal comet behaviour being misinterpreted?

Let's first examine the alleged theory. The theory created momentum with a photo set originally shared on X, purporting to show that 3I/ATLAS looked significantly different depending on when it was imaged. According to the description of this trending post, amateur astrophotographers have been tracking the comet for roughly a month, and each time they captured it, its appearance seemed to change completely.

On some evenings, as noted in the post, 3I/ATLAS appeared as a simple disc, possibly with a bare nucleus or an inactive coma. On other nights, it reportedly displayed multiple glowing jets, or a bright, colourful, active coma, sometimes with tails, sometimes without. Moreover, in one set of images, it was claimed that the comet appeared extraordinarily bright and colourful, with jets shooting in many directions.

At the same time, the next day, it allegedly looked like a 'normal' comet again. Here is the viral post:

This persistent pattern of massive nightly variation has led to a lot of conspiracy theories, such as that 3I/ATLAS is not a typical comet but a shape-shifting object, maybe even artificial. Furthermore, the fact that it is only the third confirmed interstellar object, following 1I/ʻOumuamua and 2I/Borisov, adds to its intrigue and heightens curiosity about theories that go beyond natural phenomena.

Many viewers might draw parallels with science fiction tropes such as a mysterious disc that morphs, unpredictable jet flares, and behaviour that defies conventional comet models, calling it an alien spaceship.

But while the viral theory makes for a thrilling story, the scientific reality seems more nuanced.

Read More: Did 3I/ATLAS Cross 76000 Km in 18 Minutes? - Social Media Stunned at The Comet's Behaviour

Read More: WATCH: Did 3I/ATLAS Send A Message To Earth? Viral Video Decoded

What Science Actually Tells Us

Research shows that scientists caution that changing appearance does not necessarily imply a changing shape. Instead, what we see depends a lot on changing conditions, such as how much gas or dust is being emitted, how sunlight interacts with those emissions, the viewing angle from Earth, and the limitations of telescopes and imaging filters.

According to astronomers, as reported by Space, 3I/ATLAS is best understood as a natural comet with some unusual characteristics but not as shape-shifting in any sentient or mechanical sense. The perceived changes in shape and appearance are consistent with known comet behaviours, influenced by outgassing, changing dust and gas emissions, viewing geometry, and solar radiation effects.

The comet was detected in July 2025 by the survey telescope network ATLAS, and its unusual hyperbolic trajectory, indicating an origin outside the Solar System, immediately made it only the third confirmed interstellar visitor.

Furthermore, a major factor in the changing appearance of 3I/ATLAS is its coma, a luminous cloud of gas and dust released from the comet's icy nucleus as it warms near the Sun. This is supported by recent infrared observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which confirmed that the coma of 3I/ATLAS is dominated by carbon dioxide (CO₂), along with water vapour, carbon monoxide, and dust.

This means that outgassing, not some random exotic mechanism, is behind much of its activity. As the comet approached perihelion (its closest pass to the Sun), increased heating would naturally enhance outgassing, brightening the coma and potentially changing its shape and size according to one study.

In fact, what some interpreted as a disappearance of the tail likely had a simple explanation. Basically, the tail may have been hidden from view due to the orientation. A few reports explained that the tail sometimes pointed almost directly away from Earth. This is because from our vantage point, the tail would appear foreshortened or even invisible, making the comet appear as a glowing disc with no obvious tail, even though the tail was still there.

Moreover, regarding colour changes, which is yet another element often cited in these viral theories, scientists at observatories have clarified that 3I/ATLAS really did appear to shift hue, but not multiple times or in a mysterious way. According to a postdoctoral researcher at the Lowell Observatory, the comet's only fundamental colour shift occurred once, when it began ejecting gas as it warmed up near the Sun.

Basically, what looked like a red dust-dominated coma changed to a blue-green coma dominated by gas emission, a common phenomenon in active comets when molecules such as diatomic carbon (C₂) and cyanogen (CN) expand and glow in the solar ultraviolet radiation.

So all this evidence and research does not support claims of repeated or dramatic transformations, because 3I/Atlas is consistent with a normal cometary response to solar heating, not a shapeshifting object.