Are aliens really coming with comet 3I/ATLAS? The real story behind the viral hoax
- Ric Kearbey
- Oct 24
- 3 min read
The internet is buzzing with a wild claim that aliens are on their way. According to viral posts, a mysterious object called 3I/ATLAS is giving off strange pulses and changing course toward Earth. Cue the dramatic TikToks and conspiracy reels. But here’s the plot twist. The claim isn’t just wrong. It’s gloriously overcooked internet fiction.
What comet 3I/ATLAS actually is and why people think aliens are really coming with comet 3I/ATLAS
So are aliens really coming with comet 3I/ATLAS? Nope, and here’s why the rumor doesn’t hold up to science.
3I/ATLAS, officially named C/2025 N1, is a real interstellar comet. It’s only the third known visitor from outside our solar system after 1I/ʻOumuamua and 2I/Borisov. It’s currently zipping through space at about 58 kilometers per second on a hyperbolic path. It will reach its closest point to the Sun on October 29.
When scientists say this comet is moving at 58 kilometers per second, that sounds like a random number… but let’s put it in real-world terms.
That’s about 130,000 miles per hour. Yep, if this thing were a car, it could lap Earth five times in a single hour. That’s faster than anything humans have ever built. This comet isn’t cruising. It’s blasting through space.
Oh and that hyperbolic path? A “hyperbolic path” is kind of like throwing a baseball really hard. If you don’t throw it too fast, it comes back down. But if you somehow threw it fast enough to escape Earth’s gravity, it would just keep going forever.
That’s what a hyperbolic path means in space. The comet isn’t looping around the Sun like planets do. It’s just passing through, waving “hi” to our solar system, and heading right back out into deep space. No orbit. No boomerang. Just a cosmic drive-by.
And the big scary Earth collision everyone keeps talking about? Total fiction. Its closest approach to our planet will be in mid-December, when it passes by at a comfy 1.8 AU. That’s about 268 million kilometers away. You could launch a billion fireworks and it would still be nowhere near us.
What is 1.8 AU and why it matters
Scientists use something called an AU, short for astronomical unit. One AU is the distance from the Earth to the Sun, about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.
This comet will only get 1.8 AU away at its closest point.That’s around 268 million kilometers or 167 million miles.
To picture that…
That’s almost three times farther than Earth is from the Sun.
If you launched a rocket right now, it would take months just to get that far.
It’s so distant that if you could see it in the night sky, it would still be nothing more than a bright speck.
So no, it’s not “heading straight for us.”It’s more like a fast-moving tourist taking a scenic route past the neighborhood… from very far away.
JWST has already checked it out
James Webb Space Telescope got an early look in August and here’s what it found:
The comet is made mostly of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and carbon monoxide.
It has a dusty red coma and a long, classic comet tail.
There are no mysterious pulses, no controlled movements, and absolutely no alien docking stations.
The outgassing is perfectly normal for a comet as it heats up on its way toward the Sun. The only thing extraordinary here is the hype.
How the alien rumor got started
The viral posts took real astronomy terms like “trajectory,” “pulses,” and “interstellar” and sprinkled in a generous amount of sci-fi sauce. Add a few fringe quotes from a couple of speculative scientists, stir in social media, and boom… instant alien hoax.
No space agency is on alert. No one is scrambling. There is no “secret transmission.” What astronomers are actually doing is measuring CO₂ outgassing rates. Not exactly the stuff of Independence Day.
The bottom line
👽 Aliens coming? No.
☄️ Comet flying by? Yes.
🚨 Threat to Earth? Zero.
🔭 Cool sky moment? Absolutely.
If skies are clear this December, backyard telescopes may catch a faint glimpse of this interstellar traveler. Think of it as a cosmic tourist taking a quick detour past our neighborhood, not an alien invasion fleet with bad intentions.
Share it before the aliens land (kidding… they’re not)
If your group chat is buzzing with “alien invasion” theories or your uncle on Facebook is already stockpiling snacks, do humanity a favor and share this post. A little real science can go a long way in stopping a cosmic game of telephone.
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