FROM DAILY MAIL: The latest image of the mysterious interstellar object racing through our Solar System has revealed it is changing shape and color.
A team of Austrian astronomers captured the object, known as 3I/ATLAS, on September 7, finding its once reddish glow has recently turned green. Scientists said these changes are unusual and not fully explained by current comet models.
‘During the total lunar eclipse, we captured a detailed image of Comet 3I/ATLAS from the dark skies of Namibia,’ astronomer Michael Jäger shared. ‘By combining multiple exposures in blue, green, and red light, we were able to clearly see the comet’s gas-rich coma.’
Data released this week by the ATLAS telescope team also showed that the cloud of light around 3I/ATLAS grew faster when the object was far from the sun and slowed down as it approached.
The team believes the change in 3I/ATLAS’s appearance is due to a shift in its surface composition, from red dust to icy particles. It is supposed to make its closest approach to Earth on December 19, 2025. It is estimated to pass at a distance of 168 million miles.
Jäger told the Daily Mail: “At the beginning of September, the object reached the limit where gas-rich comets begin to become active. On August 28, we saw that the tail was getting brighter. A few days later, we saw the beginning of the development of a gas coma in images taken with a blue filter.
“The deeper images taken during the total lunar eclipse on September 7 already show a blue-green coma and a tail. All of this can be explained by the development of a comet.
“The object traveled through the depths of space for billions of years, was bombarded by radiation, and a thick crust formed, which is only now breaking open.”
Harvard physicist Avi Loeb shared a different thought. He suggests that the change from red to green-blue colors is due to the rise in the production of cyanide (CN). As 3I/ATLAS got closer to the sun, it released much more cyanide and nickel (without any iron).
The physicist had a second suggestion. Noting its massive size, he said 3I/ATLAS may be an alien probe. He also points to it’s extreme brightness, and missing tail.
Harvard University Astrophysicist Avi Loeb Says Interstellar “Comet” 3I/Atlas May Actually Be An Intelligently Designed Alien Craft & He Has Multiple Scientific Reasons To Believe That’s True.
Loeb Says We’ll Know Soon As It Approaches Mars & We Get Higher Resolution Images. pic.twitter.com/0CVi8ZuQRC— John Basham (@JohnBasham) September 10, 2025
For the past few days, the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has been displaying a blue-green gas coma measuring 2.5 arcminutes across. A short tail was also visible on September 9 when photographed with the 12″/f-3.6 astrograph in Namibia. image Gerald Rhemann, Michael Jäger pic.twitter.com/N3rXvYn3N8
— Michael Jäger (@Komet123Jager) September 10, 2025
After reading that comet 3I/ATLAS is particularly rich in CO2, we photographed the comet on August 28 using a blue filter. In the 16×100-second image, we were able to detect a 48“ long tail that is relatively high in contrast for the first 25” Gerald Rhemann, Michael Jäger pic.twitter.com/49r3M0nJXl
— Michael Jäger (@Komet123Jager) August 30, 2025
🚨3I/ATLAS Has Just Done Something Strange… It Just Turned Green.
Deep images from Sept 7 show the interstellar visitor’s glow shifting from reddish to green-blue. Credit to astrophotographers Michael Jäger & Gerald Rhemann for the capture highlighted today. pic.twitter.com/UPutzCqVt1
— Skywatch Signal (@UAPWatchers) September 9, 2025
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