Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it an alien probe? Or is it just an interstellar icy rock mundane? There is no consensus yet.
While some researchers, like Harvard astrophysicist Prof. Avi Loeb, speculate that 3I/ATLAS could be anything but a comet, given the anomalous behavior ever since it bumped into the solar system, others are skeptical and find the characteristics not really exciting enough to be an alien candidate.
Discovered on July 1, 2025, by the NASA-funded Chile-based ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope, the third interstellar object ever recorded inside the solar system will be closest to Earth on December 19.
Meanwhile, the fuzzy and blurry image of 3I/ATLAS have only raised suspicion among the lay, as some researchers go with the alien spy probe theory. NASA is yet to provide the comet’s high-resolution images snapped from its Mars orbiter HiRISE when 3I/ATLAS flew closest to the red planet between October 2 and 3.
Meanwhile, the ESA’s (European Space Agency) Mars-based Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft has snapped a few images that the agency has published on social media. ESA remarked that they “pinpointed the comet’s path with 10 times more accuracy, using data from” ESA ExoMars TGO probe.
ESA further stated on its site regarding probable threat to Earthlings by the interstellar visitor:
Even though 3I/ATLAS poses no threat, it was a valuable exercise for planetary defense. ESA routinely monitors near-Earth asteroids and comets, calculating orbits to provide warnings if required. As this ‘rehearsal’ with 3I/ATLAS shows, it can be useful to triangulate data from Earth with observations from a second location in space. A spacecraft may also happen to be closer to an object, adding even more value.
#3IATLAS update: we’ve just pinpointed the comet’s path with 10 times more accuracy, using data from our @ESA_ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft.😎https://t.co/M5kAleOMsq@esascience @ESA_TGO @esaoperations pic.twitter.com/S1XRR0Rv1a
— European Space Agency (@esa) November 14, 2025
It’s the first time an official comet trajectory is determined using data from another planet! 🔭
— European Space Agency (@esa) November 14, 2025
These are the images captured on 3 October 2025 by @ESA_TGO pic.twitter.com/GLc2xpoD8z
— European Space Agency (@esa) November 14, 2025
Cover: ESA
