Overview

• NASA and multiple astronomers say 3I/ATLAS is an unbound visitor on a hyperbolic path from beyond the Solar System with no impact risk to Earth.
• The closest approach to Earth is about 270 million kilometers, with that pass reported for December 19, 2025.
• Perihelion is expected around October 30, 2025, and observers anticipate increasing brightness through late October.
• Harvard’s Avi Loeb and Mexican ufologist Jaime Maussan publicly suggest a possible artificial origin, a view widely rejected by specialists as unsupported.
• Researchers report a visible coma and tail and note spectroscopy consistent with relatively low water and high carbon dioxide compared with typical Solar System comets.