Overview
- 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed interstellar visitor, hit perihelion around Oct. 29–30 at roughly 1.4 AU from the Sun on a hyperbolic, one‑time trajectory.
- NASA and other agencies say it poses no danger, with the comet staying about 1.8 AU from Earth at its nearest approach.
- The object is in solar conjunction and currently unobservable from Earth; astronomers expect it to reappear for follow‑up in early December.
- Telescopes including Hubble, JWST, Keck and VLT report an active icy nucleus with a coma, sunward jets and unusual emissions such as CO2 dominance, cyanide and a reported excess of atomic nickel.
- Avi Loeb’s artificial‑origin speculation remains a minority view, while NASA researchers and most scientists say the evidence points to a natural comet pending further data.