New Delhi, Oct 4 The rare Comet 3I/ATLAS rocketing through the solar system at 61 km per second poses no threat to Earth, according to the US space agency NASA, which is tracking the celestial being.
Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third known object from outside our solar system to be discovered from outside our solar system, after ‘Oumuamua’ (in 2017) and 2I/Borisov (in 2019).
The letter “I” stands for “interstellar,” indicating that the object came from outside our solar system. It’s the third known interstellar object, hence the “3” in the name.
It was first discovered by the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile. It observed the Minor Planet Center of the comet 3I/ATLAS on July 1, 2025.
As per NASA, the rare comet is travelling very fast, yet poses no threat to us.
“When it was discovered, the interstellar comet was traveling about 137,000 miles per hour (221,000 kilometers per hour, or 61 kilometers per second), and its speed will increase as it approaches the Sun,” the US space agency said.
3I/ATLAS is expected to reach its closest point to the Sun around October 30, at a distance of about 210 million kilometers just inside the orbit of Mars.
“Comet 3I/ATLAS poses no threat to Earth and will remain far away. The closest it will approach our planet is about 1.8 astronomical units (about 170 million miles, or 270 million kilometers),” NASA said.
The space agency, tracking the comet through its various space telescopes including Hubble, Webb, and SPHEREx, confirmed that there is no danger of this interstellar object hitting Earth.
“Although the trajectory of the object brings it into the inner solar system; it won’t come close to Earth. As the comet 3I/ATLAS journeys through the solar system, it won’t come closer than 1.8 astronomical units (about 170 million miles, or 270 million kilometers) to our planet,” it added.
The comet is on course to pass behind the Sun in late October, and venture past Jupiter in March 2026, on its way out of our solar system.
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