I wonder at what point does mainstream science stop calling 3I/Atlas a Comet and give it its proper designation of Interstellar Object.
Images of 3I/Atlas post Perihelium taken by the R. Naves Observatory and the Virtual Telescope Project respectively.
![[Image: 1*fve8wXZ0oLliAxpzlqVKgw.png]](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:4800/format:webp/1*fve8wXZ0oLliAxpzlqVKgw.png)
![[Image: 1*94eFf6gtq2xCcavd7mWv4Q.jpeg]](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:4800/format:webp/1*94eFf6gtq2xCcavd7mWv4Q.jpeg)
The observed brightening of Atlas at Perihelium has been explained as dust and gases sublimating due to the Solar radiation Atlas was experiencing but if that were true then the Solar wind would have created a tail from the ejecta , and as we see Atlas still has no tail , a Comet this is not.
3I/ATLAS makes its closest approach to Earth on December 19, 2025 , it's expected to pass Earth at around 170 million miles away .... unless it doesn't.
NASA still silent.
Quote:Comets are large objects made of dust and ice that orbit the Sun. Best known for their long, streaming tails
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/comets/en/
Images of 3I/Atlas post Perihelium taken by the R. Naves Observatory and the Virtual Telescope Project respectively.
The observed brightening of Atlas at Perihelium has been explained as dust and gases sublimating due to the Solar radiation Atlas was experiencing but if that were true then the Solar wind would have created a tail from the ejecta , and as we see Atlas still has no tail , a Comet this is not.
Quote:Based on momentum conservation (as discussed here), I derived here that the mass fraction lost during the perihelion passage of 3I/ATLAS is larger than 13%. For a typical comet, this should have resulted in a massive coma with dust and gas that would have been pushed by the solar radiation pressure and the solar wind to the shape of a typical cometary tail pointing away from the Sun. No such tail is visible in the new images from November 5, 2025.
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/no-clear-com...904b352a7a
3I/ATLAS makes its closest approach to Earth on December 19, 2025 , it's expected to pass Earth at around 170 million miles away .... unless it doesn't.
NASA still silent.