NASA Issues 3I/ATLAS Update: 'Unambiguously a Comet' and Poses 'No Impact Risk'

It survived. Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has flown past the Sun and emerged intact, but it is not done making news. As of 15 November 2025, it is putting on a show: it has grown a spectacular tail, emitted its first-ever detected radio signals, and even helped a spacecraft at Mars rehearse for planetary defence.

But this activity is fuelling another, more popular, story: the 'alien probe' speculation. While that narrative gains traction online, a powerful wave of new scientific data strongly undercuts the idea. This includes a new update from NASA, which clarifies the object's nature and threat level.

The new evidence paints a picture of something perhaps even more profound: a truly ancient, 'weird', and wonderfully natural visitor from another star system, potentially older than our own Sun.

3I/ATLAS at a Glance (15 November 2025)

• What it is: The third known interstellar object, a comet on a one-way hyperbolic trajectory.
• Discovery: 1 July 2025 by the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) in Chile.
• Closest to Sun (Perihelion): 29–30 October 2025, at about 1.36–1.4 AU.
• Closest to Earth (Future): Around 19 December 2025, at a very safe distance of ~1.8 AU (≈270 million km).
• Current Location: In the constellation Virgo, with a magnitude near 9.8, making it strictly a telescope object.
• Why it's Special: Its chemistry is very odd (CO₂-rich, nickel-rich), it appears 'red and dusty', and its orbit suggests it could be several billion years old, possibly even older than the solar system.

The 'Alien' Debate: What Is 3I/ATLAS Really?

The comet's sheer toughness has fuelled online speculation. An article in The Economic Times describes how its survival and unusual colour have kept debates about its origin alive, while Zee News similarly focuses on new images showing 3I/ATLAS 'survived the Sun against all odds', reigniting social-media speculation about an 'engineered' object.

However, the latest wave of hard data strongly contradicts this. Yesterday, NASA issued an update by publishing a detailed 3I/ATLAS Facts and FAQs page that is firm in its conclusion: 3I/ATLAS is 'unambiguously a comet', with an icy nucleus surrounded by an active coma of gas and dust.

NASA stresses it poses 'no impact risk' and there is 'no scenario' where it hits Earth. Any slight deviations from its path are 'small, expected perturbations' caused by normal outgassing, not mysterious forces.

Even the most 'anomalous' talking points are now being explained by natural physics:

• The Radio Signal: The first radio signal from 3I/ATLAS, detected by South Africa's MeerKAT telescope, is not a communication. As The Times of India notes, this detection confirms it is a natural comet. MeerKAT picked up radio emissions from hydroxyl (OH) radicals at well-known frequencies (1665 and 1667 MHz). This is a classic, expected signature produced when sunlight breaks apart water vapour escaping from the comet's ice.
• The 'Weird' Acceleration: A fresh study covered by IFLScience tackles the small 'non-gravitational acceleration' of 3I/ATLAS. Researchers showed this is perfectly explained by ordinary outgassing of CO and CO₂ from its surface. No exotic 'light-sail' or alien technology is required.

As ScienceAlert summarises, every new data point is consistent with 'a really peculiar comet' rather than anything engineered.

New Data: What We Are Learning from 3I/ATLAS

With the alien-probe theory looking weaker, scientists are focused on the wealth of real data. Visually, 3I/ATLAS is putting on a show. On 12 November, Space.com highlighted a new Virtual Telescope Project image showing the comet's ion tail growing dramatically longer and more structured, stretching roughly 0.7° across the sky. EarthSky has also shown it displaying multiple jets fanning out from the nucleus.

This data is about to get even better. Astrophysicist Avi Loeb writes that NASA is expected to release HiRISE images of 3I/ATLAS 'within a few days'. These were taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in early October and should provide a unique side-on view of the anti-tail and jets at a sharp 30 km per pixel resolution.

In another major development, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced on 14 November that it has improved predictions of the comet's position by a factor of ten. This was cleverly achieved by using the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) at Mars to triangulate the comet's path with Earth-based observations as it passed within 29 million km of the Red Planet.

Viewing Guide and Future Plans for 3I/ATLAS

For experienced observers, 3I/ATLAS is a rewarding target. According to live data from TheSkyLive, it is currently in Virgo at magnitude 9.8. Guidance from BBC Sky at Night and EarthSky suggests looking in the pre-dawn hours with at least an 8-inch (20 cm) aperture telescope to spot the faint, fuzzy coma.

It is important not to confuse 3I/ATLAS with C/2025 K1 (ATLAS). That is a completely different, solar-system comet that has recently been seen breaking apart. 3I/ATLAS is the interstellar one, and it is here to stay for a while.

The science is just getting started. The JWST has more observations planned for December, ESA's JUICE spacecraft will provide data in early 2026, and ground-based telescopes will track 3I/ATLAS into the spring. This is a once-in-a-civilisation laboratory: a chunk of another planetary system, venting its ancient ices for us to study before it fades back into the interstellar dark.

With NASA now formally debunking 'alien probe' speculation and confirming 3I/ATLAS is 'unambiguously a comet' that poses 'no impact risk', the path is clear. The real, profound story is not one of science fiction, but of incredible scientific opportunity. We are witnessing, in real-time, the behaviour of an ancient visitor from another star system, potentially older than our own.

As new data from HiRISE, JWST, and ESA missions continues to arrive, the call to action for the public is clear: Look past the online chatter and follow the actual science. This is a rare, fleeting chance to study a piece of another world, and the real discoveries are just getting started.