"Though our Mars orbiters continue to make impressive contributions to Mars science, it's always extra exciting to see them responding to unexpected situations like this one."

As interstellar object 3I/ATLAS nears the Sun, Baba Vanga’s 2025 prophecy about alien contact resurfaces. While online buzz links her prediction to this mysterious comet, NASA confirms there’s no threat of impact with Earth.

The NASA-funded ATLAS survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, made the initial discovery of the comet on July 1 and officially named it 3I/ATLAS.

Spanish researchers have traced the path of comet 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar traveler that may hold clues to the origins of distant worlds.

While scientists are confident it is a comet, its origins have ignited wild theories, including the persistent idea that it could be an alien spacecraft. As it approaches its perihelion—its closest point to the Sun—on 29 October 2025,

I/ATLAS puts the Planetary Defense Network on watch. NASA and ESA say no threat as IAWN drills tracking, while Harvard’s Avi Loeb raises an alien-origin idea.