Overview

• The Vera C. Rubin Observatory recorded 3I/ATLAS ten days before its July 1 identification, capturing its gas-dust coma and tail and confirming its cometary nature.
• The comet moves at roughly 137,000 mph and will reach its nearest point to the Sun on October 30 at about 130 million miles, remaining far from Earth with no risk of collision.
• Avi Loeb’s non-peer-reviewed hypothesis that 3I/ATLAS could be alien technology has drawn attention but is discounted by most astronomers for lacking observational evidence.
• A team proposed retargeting NASA’s Juno spacecraft for a March 14, 2026 flyby to gather in situ measurements, though mission planners have not approved the maneuver.
• Precovery data from NASA’s TESS in May and June and ground-based spectroscopy have provided astrometry, photometry and compositional profiles indicating early activity at about 6.4 au.