Alien Comet 3i / Atlas just drifted past Mars. When will you return to our skies?

There has been a lot of hype and rumors about the Alien Comet 3i / Atlas recently, so where is it now, does the spacecraft around mars see when it passes by, and is it something we really need? Here are the details.

Since I received it back at the beginning of July, our latest guest from the Intantstellar space – 3i / 2025 N1 (Atlas), or only 3i / atlas from the previous octave at the beginning of October. For comparison, the fastest spacecraft ever created from Earth, new feet, takes more than 10 months – from April 7, 2006 to February 28, 2007 – to travel the same distance.

The positions of Comet 3i / Atlas on July 1, when it was discovered, and on October 3, when it made its closest pass by Mars. (NASA / jpl-Caltech / Scott Sutherland)

For the past three months, telescopes both on Earth and in space have been capturing images and collecting data about this galactic glory. After all, this thing gives us a unique opportunity, and only for a limited time.

We won’t be able to go to other planetary systems to check them out, but the 3i / atlas might be released orbiting some distant star. Therefore, by studying its composition, we can get an idea of ​​what the environment was like there, at least when the star and its planets began to form. Also, we only have until some time in the future to learn as much as possible from it, because it will pass out of Jupiter’s orbit in March 2026, back into interstellar space, after a brief visit.

3i / Atlas as seen by the Gemini South Observatory on August 27, 2025. Noirlab))

Unfortunately, our current 3i / atlas experience has been interrupted. At the end of September and October, it goes beyond the sun in our view. Therefore, it is not visible to any telescopes on the surface of the earth, and it is actually dangerous to direct any of our weather sensors to it, since the intense light from the sun can damage their optics.

3i / atlas on Mars

As luck would have it, on October 3 the Comet passed 30 million kilometers from the only planet in the solar system, the other out of the way, and one sent to the ground. And, as that happened, the space agencies that manage most of those missions – NASA and ESA – were ready.

Both ESA’s Mars Express and Exomors Track Gear Orbiter Orbiter (TGO) Spacecraft turned their cameras towards the 3i/atlas at its closest approach to the red planet.

“3i/Atlas has not exposed the Mars Express images, in part because these were taken with an exposure time of 0.5 seconds (the maximum limit for Mars Express),” ESA said in a press release from October 7.

Exomors TGE Color TGE and Stereo Surface Simulation System (Cassis) that was able to capture the Alien Comet, therefore, thanks to the long camera, the time of the second exposure.

Comet 3i / Atlas (Upper Right of Center) is seen here as captured by Exomors TGO’s Cassis Instrument on October 3, 2025. (Esa / TGO / Cassis)

During exomars tgo routine operations, Cassis is used to image the surface of Mars, at a distance of hundreds to thousands of kilometers away.

“Even if they are not designed to capture something very distant, TGE exomors have revealed a coma of gas and dust around the ecy-rocky nucleus,” said Esa.

NASA Orbitsers, such as the Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and persistent and curious looking at the surface, may have been instructed to aim their cameras at the comet. However, there is no official word yet from these games.

The latest update to the image catalogs of the Hirise Camera and Odyssey’s Thendis instrument was on October 1, two days before it made its closest approach. The green image catalog shows several images taken at night by the rover’s motion cameras, but none show any sign that they captured the comet. There there are The advice to persevere is likely to pay off, however!

These two images can show the comet 3i / Atlas, as captured by the right navigation camera of the ROVER DOVER on Mars, using two different filters. If this is an actor, it is transferred to the streak in all the views due to the long exposure time of the photography. (NASA/jpl-Caltech)

With the current operation of the US government, they will have to wait until the mission teams return to work to get any official analysis of the results.

Read more: An Alien Comet is now passing through our solar system. Here’s what we know

When does 3i / atlas return to our skies?

This comet is very long and eager to see with the naked eye. However, anyone with a good pair of binoculars — something with an 8-inch to 10-inch aperture — might want to get ready for the end of October.

When 3i / atlas clears the sun and reappears in our Predaw sky, it is expected to be most accessible between October 30 and November 7.

3I location / atlas in the morning sky from the end of October through the first week of November, 2025. (Stellarium / Scott Sutherland)

Get out of the clear hours and point your binoculars to the east. Look for the bright Planet Venus above the Horizon as a good guide for finding the comet.

According to estimates from the International Astronomical Union Center, 3i / Atlas will reach between magnitude 14.9 and 15 in the first week of November. To see something burning would require at least an inch-inch telescope, with high magnification, and that would be well at the limit of that telescope’s resolving power. A long exposure of astronomers with such a telescope can gather enough light to see it clearly.

Amateur sources such as Gideon van Buitenen and Seiichi Yoshida are very optimistic. Both measure that 3i / atlas can bloom and when it appears, maybe up to Magnitude 11.5. (In astronomy, the lower the cooler, the brighter.)

If these optimistic estimates are correct, observers under clear, dark skies may only need a small telescope (about 6 to 8-inches) to see the comet at the end of November.

Don’t miss: Hubble reveals new information about Alien Comet 3i / Atlas

Is 3I / atlas a threat to the world?

The TLDR answer to this question is: No.

Even in its closest approach to the earth, 3i / atlas will pass more than 200 million kilometers, and on the other side of the sun from us.

At present, months after their discovery, it would be obvious, both to qualified sources and to amateurs, if this comet was an impact that is the impact of the trajectory with the earth. There will be no way to hide this information from the public.

The simple fact is that the 3i / atlas was born somewhere near our planet, which is unfortunate for those of us who would like to see this unusual visitor shining in our solar sky, never to return.

This diagram shows the path of Comet 3i / Atlas through the inner solar system. Inset is a photo of the comet taken by the European Southern Observatory, shortly after its discovery. (NASA / jpl / ESO / O. HAINAUUUUTIU)

As for the speculation that the 3i / atlas could be some kind of probe sent by hostile aliens: regardless of the hype on this subject making rounds in the news and on the Internet, all the indications are completely natural.

A strange comet indeed:

• moving faster than any other interstellar object we’ve seen so far,

• Along the path of the solar system almost directly along the ecliptic (the plane the planets rotate),

• With more carbon dioxide than water in its molecules, compared to the attack from our Solar system,

However, in spite of all the accusations, it shows all the qualities of a comet, with a coma of gases and dust around it, and a tail away from it. Nothing in its structure or behavior gives any strong evidence that it is anything but natural.

Instead, it’s a natural curiosity of ours to find it far away while we are in our region of space.

We may reveal strong clues to their source, perhaps study the star systems deeper in a more sinister way. Also, this encounter can help us find more Inderdellar things in the future, and we may even encourage us to put the canals in the observation space for those future visitors, to examine them as they pass by.

(The icon combines a view of Mars with 3I / Atlas using NASA’s eyes on the solar system with an image of a comet found by the exomors of the ESA Track (TGO))

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