Overview

• The object was discovered in July by the ATLAS survey in Chile and follows a hyperbolic path from beyond the Solar System.
• Hubble and other observatories report a bright coma, a dust tail and carbon‑dioxide signatures consistent with cometary activity.
• NASA states the object is not hazardous and will reach perihelion on October 30 at roughly 130 million miles from the Sun.
• Harvard’s Avi Loeb has floated a nuclear‑powered spacecraft explanation based on an unusual brightness profile and trajectory alignment, which he calls speculative.
• Astronomers including Chris Lintott and Samantha Lawler dismiss the technology claim as a distraction, while facilities such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory continue monitoring for higher‑quality data.