NASA Took a Closer Look at 3I/ATLAS — And Saw Something Staring Back

[00:00:01]Comet 3i Atlas crashes into Earth and a wave of widespread destruction starts shaking our planet. Ginormous [music] tsunamis are swallowing coastlines.

[00:00:11]Devastating earthquakes are cracking the ground. Hot debris is igniting massive firestorms.

[00:00:18]Thick clouds [music] of dust are blocking the sun.

[00:00:23]Now, [music] that's what could happen if ThreeI Atlas, a massive comet traveling through the solar system, collided [music] with our planet. But can this disaster actually occur? When will ThreeI Atlas be the closest to Earth?

[00:00:39]Let's figure this out.

[00:00:42]First of all, this comet turned out to be way larger than we previously thought. Its weight is [music] likely a whopping 33 billion tons. Let's throw in a few comparisons to put it into perspective. The Eiffel Tower weighs about 10,000 tons. So 33 billion tons is roughly the weight of 3.3 million Eiffel Towers. Impressive.

[00:01:05]Next, all the cars on Earth, and we're talking about 1.5 billion vehicles, each weighing about 1.5 tons, weigh approximately 2.25 billion tons. This means that the comet's mass is [music] 15 times greater than the combined weight of literally all the cars on the planet. And finally, compared to buildings on Earth, 33 billion tons is equal to several large metropolitan areas made entirely of steel and concrete.

[00:01:38]But the whole idea of how big this comet is fades in comparison with an even crazier fact about it. It could be unknown technology from a different galaxy and some experts are somewhat sure about that. But why?

[00:01:55]Three Atlas was first spotted in July by NASA's asteroid terrestrial impact last alert system. A bit later, the US space agency confirmed that the object was an interstellar object, only the third we have found so far. before it was comet 2 I Boris that passed through in 2019 and Amamua a weird elongated object that appeared in 2017 but the newest comet with its up to 3.5 m nucleus dwarfs Amua Mua which is just a/4 mile long and Borosov which is about6 mi across by the way [music] some believe that the comet could be even bigger up to almost 7 mi But scientists haven't found any [music] proof of that yet.

[00:02:44]Besides its size, three Atlas is different in other ways too, which makes some scientists question its origins.

[00:02:52]The object is shedding huge amounts of carbon dioxide and dust while zooming towards the sun. It's most likely the proof that Threei Atlas is more massive than the other two interstellar objects by 3 to five orders of [music] magnitude, which is basically a serious anomaly.

[00:03:11]The comet is also traveling toward the sun incredibly fast. We're talking about around 130,000 mph, which is almost 170 times the speed of sound. Another weird thing is that this interstellar object is following a straight trajectory unlike anything else in the solar system.

[00:03:32]Most space bodies move along curved [music] orbits due to the force of gravity.

[00:03:37]That made some researchers believe [music] that three Atlas might be a probe sent by another civilization to [music] explore Earth, possibly with not so friendly intentions. Their theory is that the object could be [music] a technological artifact, a sign of cosmic intelligence.

[00:03:55]You see, the comet moves in a pretty weird way that [music] doesn't totally line up with just gravity. Its trajectory also takes it close [music] to Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. And researchers think that these planets might be [music] especially interesting for another civilization to pass by.

[00:04:14]Another bizarre fact, the space traveler also spins backward [music] compared to most stuff in our solar system. This might be necessary to make it easier for threeey [music] atlas to get near Earth without much resistance. Some scientists think the comet's odd spin and flight [music] path could help whoever or whatever made it take super precise measurements of the planets, things like their orbits and sizes to plan a perfect route through the solar system.

[00:04:43]If ThreeI Atlas suddenly changes direction in a big way, that might mean it's using some kind of built-in engine instead of just drifting through space.

[00:04:53]There's also another theory that suggests it could be a piece of unknown tech that's still active.

[00:05:01]There's no need to worry though, at least at the moment. The comet isn't coming anywhere near us. NASA says it'll stay around 150 million miles from Earth when heading toward the sun. So, the question is, where do such space visitors come from?

[00:05:18]Astronomers have found that the three interstellar objects we discovered came from totally different parts of the galaxy, and each of them has its own age and background. Three Atlas turned out to be the oldest, about 4.6 6 billion years old and it came from the Milky Way's thick disc. That's a region filled with older stars that have fewer heavy elements. One eye AMA MUA is much younger, around 1 billion years old. It came from the galaxy's thin disc, where new stars are still being born.

[00:05:53]Amua Mua, Hawaiian for a [music] messenger from afar arriving first, was the first known object from another star system to [music] pass through our solar system. Basically, the first interstellar guest.

[00:06:07]It was super [music] stretched out, about 10 times longer than it was wide, unlike anything else we've spotted in space.

[00:06:16]It also sped up in a way that couldn't [music] be explained by gravity alone.

[00:06:20]Changes in brightness showed it was [music] tumbling end over end instead of spinning smoothly. At first, scientists [music] were confused because the space body didn't have a tail or cloud of gas like a normal comet, [music] even though it was accelerating.

[00:06:36]That led to a lot of debate [music] about what it was made of and where it came from. Just like with three Atlas, some people wondered if it could be technology created by a space civilization. But most scientists now [music] think Amua Mua was a totally natural object, just a really weird one.

[00:06:55]The best guess is that it was a comet releasing invisible hydrogen gas which caused it [music] to speed up slightly.

[00:07:02]Sadly, by the time astronomers found it, it was already heading out of the solar system. So, there wasn't much time to study it. As for twoey [music] Boros, it sits in between at roughly 1.7 billion years old.

[00:07:16]It also came from the thin disc. It was the first confirmed comet to come from another star [music] system, and it gave scientists a super rare peak at what materials beyond our solar system were made of.

[00:07:30]The comet was discovered in 2019 [music] by Gennady Borosov, an amateur astronomer who actually built his own telescope to search for faint space objects.

[00:07:41]Unlike the first interstellar visitor, Amua Mua, which looked more like an asteroid, Forosov behaved like a classic comet, it had a bright coma. That's a temporary fuzzy atmosphere of gas [music] and dust forming around the comet's nucleus as it approaches the sun. Plus, it boasted [music] a long tail of dust and gas.

[00:08:02]Studying two [music] Borosov helped researchers learn more about how other planetary systems form. Observations showed that its dust grains were compact and that the amount [music] of gases like carbon dioxide changed a lot as it approached the sun. It could mean that the comet formed under very different conditions [music] than anything else in our solar system.

[00:08:25]Now 2I Borosov is speeding away from the sun and will [music] never return. But it allowed scientists to take a unique glimpse into the chemistry and history of [music] distant worlds.

[00:08:38]Interestingly, the differences between these three space objects suggest that interstellar visitors [music] have been getting kicked out of planetary systems all across the galaxy for billions of [music] years. So, it's not something new. To figure out if ThreeI Atlas might be some kind of probe from [music] another planet, scientists are checking for any signs of technology like strange radio [music] signals, electric activity, and weird movement patterns.

[00:09:04]If the comet suddenly changes course or drops smaller objects nearby, [music] it might be our cue.

[00:09:12]But even though threeey atlas is moving in a pretty wild and energetic [music] way, it's most likely just a natural interstellar object passing through.

[00:09:21]Researchers say they'll need a lot more proof [music] before anyone can seriously say the space wanderer was sent by someone from another planet.

[00:09:30]What do you think about this newly discovered space traveler? Share your opinion [music] in the comments.

[00:09:38]>> A large space probe is nearing the sun.

[00:09:41]The terrifying heat of the star [music] begins to melt the shell of the spacecraft. Another moment and the probe bursts into flames. In no time, it disintegrates [music] in a powerful explosion. Ah, what a sad ending. If it were true, it was not a probe. It was a comet known as Threeey Atlas. And despite everything people say, it's still intact and thriving. The thing is, there is a rumor online saying that comet Three Atlas exploded when it got closest to the sun. But astronomers say this is not true. There was no explosion. And the comet's nucleus still looks whole and undamaged, which is kind of surprising since comets that pass very close to the sun usually go through some serious changes. You see, comets are made of a mix of ice, dust, and rocky material, which is why they're often called dirty snowballs. So, when they come close to the sun, the intense heat from our star makes their ice turn into gas. This new gas can burst out in huge jets, form a cloud around the comet called a coma, and or be pushed away into a long tail. Sunlight makes all of these parts shine more brightly, and even people with small or simple telescopes can study the comet if the viewing conditions are good. But aside from being a breathtaking view, such a close approach can break off pieces of a comet or even tear its whole nucleus apart.

[00:11:11]Now it's true that some comets survive this process but many especially small ones or comets entering the inner solar system for the first time break into pieces [music] or disappear completely.

[00:11:23]Well threeey atlas acted [music] differently. So there it reached its closest point to the sun on October 29th 2025. This point is called the perhion.

[00:11:34]At that moment the comet was about 130 million miles from the sun. That's about 1 and 1/2 times the distance between the sun and our planet. The comet was also on the opposite side of the sun from Earth. So, the star was blocking it from our view and we couldn't see the comet [music] anyway. Even though three Atlas could hypothetically break apart or release lots of fragments, it didn't.

[00:11:59]The nucleus stayed intact. And this made the comet's behavior even more unusual and interesting to scientists. They looked closely at the new photos and said everything looked normal.

[00:12:11]Now, interestingly, the day before, some people thought the comet had broken into pieces after it came out from behind the far side of the sun. This idea became popular after a blog post said the comet had lost a lot of mass. So, to make this claim, the blog used photos taken on November 9th by two small telescopes in Spain. The pictures show jets of gas coming out of the comet. The scientists used this to estimate how much material was coming off the comet, claiming that it should have broken into at least 16 pieces. However, many scientists have questioned this statement. Most researchers say there's no proof that the comet exploded. One scientist who studies the comet says that all the images he had seen showed a completely normal, healthy comet. There's no sign that the main body of the comet has broken apart. Still, now that the comet is coming back into view, astronomers are watching it very carefully. They want to learn more about the comet's materials and structure. [music] Right now, if you look at it from Earth, the comet seems to be slowly moving higher in the eastern sky. If the weather is good, people in many parts of the northern hemisphere can see it with a small telescope like this one with a 6-in lens. And many do pay attention to the comet. Since it was discovered in July, it has become the center of many curious ideas. Some people are sure that the comet, which comes from outside our solar system and might be more than 7 billion years old, could be a probe sent by a different civilization. Now, most astronomers strongly disagree, of course. They believe the comet is completely natural and comes from another star system [music] somewhere in the Milky Way. And this is actually exciting. Comet 3i Atlas is only the third interstellar comet ever seen and it is the largest one of its kind.

[00:14:06]Before it was comet 2i Borosoft that passed [music] through in 2019 and AmuA Mua a weird and long aadated object that appeared in 2017. But three Atlas with its up [music] to three and a half mile nucleus dwarfs a Mua Mua which was just a/4 mile long and Boris which is about 3/10en of a mile across. Plus three Atlas may be the oldest comet humans have ever observed. Omo Mua is much younger around 1 billion years old. It came from the galaxy's thin [music] disc where new stars are still being born. It was the first known object from another star system to pass through our solar system. Basically our first [music] interstellar guest. It was super stretched out about 10 times longer than it was wide unlike anything else we've spotted in space. As for two I Boris, it sits in between at roughly 1.7 billion years old. It also came from the thin disc. [music] It was the first confirmed comet to come from another star system, and it gave scientists a super rare peak at what materials beyond our solar system were made of. Unlike the first interstellar visitor, Umo Mua, which looked more like an asteroid, Borisoft [music] behaved like a classic comet, it had a bright coma, a temporary fuzzy atmosphere of gas and dust forming around the comet's nucleus as it approaches the sun. Plus, it also had a long tail of dust and gas. Now, two I Boris is speeding away from the sun and will never return. But it allowed scientists to take [music] a glimpse into the chemistry and history of distant worlds. Now, let's get back to comet 3 IALS. It will pass closest to Earth on December 19th. Until then, scientists will make many more observations. [music] People will also make many new claims about the comet, that's for sure. But [music] it's best to be cautious and not believe everything immediately. By the way, even though you can't see this famous comet with your own eyes or with a regular telescope, hey, that's good news. A powerful telescope in Italy is streaming it live for free. Wo! So, anyone can actually watch this mysterious object as it passes by.

[00:16:22]Scientists think this comet weighs about 33 billion tons. That's a big number.

[00:16:28]How about we make a few comparisons? The Eiffel Tower weighs around 10,000 tons.

[00:16:33]So 33 billion tons is the same as 3.3 million Eiffel Towers. And if you decide to compare the space [music] visitor to buildings, well, 33 billion tons is about the same as the weight of several huge city areas made entirely of steel and concrete. Now, 3II Atlas was first noticed in July by NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System, which if you're paying attention, is where they got the nickname Atlas.

[00:17:03][music] Shortly after, NASA confirmed that the object wasn't from our solar system at all. Now, besides being huge, 3i Atlas is unusual in several other ways. As it moves through the solar system, it's releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide and dust. So this suggests that three eye atlas is 3 to five orders of magnitude [music] which means 1,00 to 100,000 times more massive than the two other known interstellar visitors. Such [snorts] an enormous difference is a real scientific mystery.

[00:17:35][music] It's also traveling incredibly fast, about 150,000 mph, which is almost 200 times the speed of sound. Hey, that will get you a speeding ticket. And unlike objects in our solar system which follow curved paths because of gravity, three Atlas is moving on a nearly straight line. That alone makes it stand out. Now that the comet has moved past the sun, telescopes on Earth can see it again. Comet 3i Atlas is important to us [music] because it's only the third interstellar visitor we've ever seen, and it may be the biggest and oldest one yet. And it didn't break apart near the sun like some other comets. By studying it, scientists [music] can learn what materials exist in other star systems and better understand how comets and even planets form in our galaxy.

[00:18:28]Well, the space object threeey atlas just whipped past the sun and instead of clearing things up, the new images made everything even stranger. Because if this thing really is a comet, then it's the strangest comet ever recorded. And if it's not a comet, then we're watching something completely new invade our solar system. So, should we be worried?

[00:18:53]This all started back in July 2025.

[00:18:56]Astronomers using the Atlas Survey Telescope in Chile spotted a faint, super fastmoving object, something unlike anything they'd seen before. That was our first look at three Atlas. And right away, scientists had a lot of questions. Where did it come from?

[00:19:14]What's it made of? But more importantly, what is this thing? At first glance, it almost looks like a tiny cell, right?

[00:19:23]Like something you'd see under a microscope with a bright center like a nucleus and this fuzzy outer layer. But when we look at it from a different angle, the mystery clears up. That glow is actually a comet tail. It's precisely because [music] it looks like and behaves like a comet that NASA finally confirmed it. Yep, three Atlas really is a comet. The big giveaway is that it has an icy nucleus and a coma, which is that glowing cloud of gas and dust surrounding it. But this comet is a very special one because it didn't come from our own solar system. It came from somewhere else in the Milky Way. And that's ridiculously rare. To give you an idea, we've only ever seen three objects like this, period. The first two interstellar visits were the famous Amua Mua and the comet Boris. And now, three eye atlas. Cool. But you might be asking, how do we know it actually came from outside our solar system? You see, normal comets are bound to the sun.

[00:20:31][music] They swing around it in these big looping orbits. But three Atlas isn't doing that. Its crazy speed and path show it's not on a closed orbit around the sun. And the only logical explanation is that it came from another star system and you know just wandered into ours by chance. In other words, this is just a visitor passing through our solar system and is doing it at a ridiculous speed. When we first spotted it, it was going around 137,000 mph. So, this object probably spent millions of years cruising through deep space just to hang around our solar system for a few months. And after this quick visit, it'll vanish into interstellar space, and we'll never see it again. Recently, two European Space Agency satellites along with several NASA spacecraft near Mars captured new images of three Atlas zooming in as it passed the red planet.

[00:21:31]And one of those images is pretty incredible, showing a cloud of hydrogen atoms around the comet. Scientists were pretty excited about that as every bit of information we get from this visitor matters. Because the reality is there are still a lot of unanswered questions about this object. Starting with its size. We can't pin it down exactly yet, but NASA says it could be anywhere from about 1,400 ft to around 3.5 m in diameter. Its exact shape is another mystery because our telescopes can't really get a clear look at it. The nucleus is buried inside this bright coma of gas and dust. And the sunlight reflecting off all that dust basically blinds us. So for now, we're trying to see it through a bright dusty fog. If you put all the pieces together, its behavior, its chemistry, and the images we've gotten so far, everything points to three eye atlas being a comet. But even with all that, there are still some pretty controversial ideas floating around about what it might be. Not long after it was discovered, Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loe said there's maybe a 30 to 40% chance this object isn't something naturally formed. That comment kicked off a wave of online buzz with people jumping to wild possibilities. Like maybe it's some kind of extraterrestrial tech or worse a threat to Earth. Ooh. According to this theory, ThreeI Atlas might be a massive extraterrestrial mother ship. Its odd trajectory could mean it's sending out little satellites toward Jupiter to collect intel for some extraterrestrial civilization. So in that version of the story, this isn't just a comet. It's basically advanced space spy tech. But then the obvious question is why spy on Jupiter, right? I mean, wouldn't Earth be way more interesting to an interstellar civilization? Well, in this theory, Jupiter is the target because it's so much bigger than Earth and the other neighboring planets. The idea that a planet that massive could act kind of as a interstellar beacon, something that stands out from far away. The region near Jupiter is another big reason. It's almost like it's an ideal parking spot where space technology could basically hang out without using much fuel at all.

[00:24:02]In other words, if you were going to place advanced satellites somewhere to watch a planet, well, that's prime real estate. Pretty cool, huh? But as fun as that theory is, we got to come back down to Earth for a second. According to the major space agencies, this thing is a comet. Case closed. But that label doesn't make it any less special. Three Atlas is still a total weirdo in the best way. [music] And it stands out for a bunch of reasons. Let's look at three of the most important ones. First, this object is old. Like really old. Older than me. Scientists think it's been traveling through space for at least 7 billion years. That's so far back in time that it was formed before our sun and Earth even existed. So yeah, it's probably the most ancient thing we've ever seen in our cosmic neighborhood.

[00:24:56]Second, it's glow. Comets can sometimes look kind of green, and here's why. When a comet gets closer to the sun, [music] the ice inside it heats up and starts releasing gas. I know the feeling. Some of that gas is made [music] of carbon-based molecules, especially one called diatomic carbon or C2. When sunlight hits those molecules, they light up and to us that glow shows up as green. But with three eye atlas, that green color is well confusing. The data suggests that this comet is actually low on those carbon chain molecules. So the big mystery is if it doesn't have much C2, how is it glowing green at all?

[00:25:41]Well, nobody knows. [music] And now the third thing that makes this comet stand out. It seems to be giving off a metal alloy we've basically never seen in nature. [music] So this comet is releasing a plume that contains nickel.

[00:25:56]That's normal. What's strange is what's missing, iron. In comets, [music] nickel and iron usually show up in pretty similar amounts. Here we're seeing nickel, but no clear sign of iron. And that's almost unheard of. If the data holds up, [music] it points to an alloy called nickel tetracarbonol, something we've only ever seen before in humanmade industrial processes, not out in space. No other known object has shown this kind of signature. [music] Well, now that you're familiar with three Atlas, we got to answer the biggest question of all. Is it a threat to us? Good news, no. The comet isn't dangerous and it's going to stay really far from Earth so we can all take a deep breath. [sighs and gasps] Well, I feel better. Although it's harmless, tracking it has been super valuable for planetary defense. You see, space agencies are always watching asteroids and comets, running the numbers on their orbits, [music] and making sure we'd get a warning if something ever did head our way. But three Atlas gave them [music] something new to practice with. This is the first time tracking data from spacecraft [music] orbiting another planet were officially submitted to and accepted by the minor planet [music] center. That's the big global database where asteroid and comet observations get collected and checked so scientists [music] everywhere can stay on the same page. So in a way, three Atlas was like a rehearsal.

[00:27:30]Gathering data like this from a [music] totally new setup helps researchers sharpen their methods and improve how we spot future space objects. And that means better detection, faster tracking, and more readiness, just in case the next visitor isn't quite so friendly.

[00:27:48]Uh-oh.

[00:27:50]A mysterious space visitor has recently passed its closest approach to Earth, flying by at a distance of 64 million miles. It might be something totally natural and born on the outskirts of the solar system. Or some unknown civilization could be examining us from above right at this moment. This new object looks a lot like another strange wanderer called Threeey Atlas. And you'll understand why we say strange pretty soon. So, could both of them come from the same place outside our solar system? What we do know is that this new object is relatively close to us in space terms, of course, and scientists are now studying it closely. They first spotted it inside our solar system, and people are paying attention because it showed up not long after three Atlas passed near our sun. On November 2nd, 2025, astronomer Gennady Boris, the same person who discovered interstellar comet 2 Boris in 2019, found this new object.

[00:28:59]It's now got its official name and is listed in NASA's and the Minor Planet Centers databases.

[00:29:06]C 2025V1 has some unusual features. Its orbit is tilted 113°, [music] which means it's moving almost up and over the regular path that planets take.

[00:29:18]Even more bizarre, its orbital plane is almost at a right angle to the path of three eye atlas. Plus, it doesn't have a clear comet tail, which is odd. Right now, its orbit has an eccentricity of 1.0095.

[00:29:36]And let me break it down in human language. If that number was well above one, it would mean the object definitely came from outside the solar system. But because it's only just a bit above one, the most likely explanation is that C 2025V1 came from the or cloud. That's a giant faraway shell of icy objects that surrounds the solar system. Now, scientists check this by basically rewinding the object's path, sending it all the way back to about 1,000 AU.

[00:30:10]That's 1,000 times farther than the Earth is from the Sun. At that huge distance, the planets can't mess with its motion anymore. When they redo the orbit from that point, its eccentricity, the number that tells you if it's from outside [music] the solar system, usually drops below one, which means it's still part of our solar system. But at the same time, even a tiny push from Jupiter while passing by could make even a normal orort cloud comet look like it has an eccentricity slightly above one.

[00:30:44]And on top of that, small blasts of gas coming off the comet surface can also change the numbers a little. So to put it simply, it probably isn't interstellar. It just looks that way because of small pushes and gas bursts.

[00:31:01]C2025V1 is still exciting even if it comes from the or cloud because studying it gives us a chance to analyze the material from that distant region and learn how our solar system formed and evolved. Now let's get back to the mystery of threeey atlas. Before anything else, let's explain what threeey actually is. It's most likely a comet. Basically a huge dirty snowball flying through space. You can't see it with your own eyes or with a regular telescope. But there's good news. A powerful telescope in Italy is streaming it live for free. So, anyone can actually watch this mysterious object as it passes by. Scientists think this comet weighs about 33 billion tons.

[00:31:49]That number is hard to imagine, so here are a few comparisons. The Eiffel Tower weighs around 10,000 tons. So 33 billion tons is the same as a whopping 3.3 million Eiffel Towers. [music] And if you decide to compare the space visitor to buildings, 33 billion tons is about the same as the weight of several huge city areas made entirely of steel and concrete. But even all that size isn't the wildest part. Some experts think this object might be a piece of unknown technology from outside our galaxy. And they're not saying this just for fun.

[00:32:26]There are real reasons behind the theory. Three [music] Atlas was first noticed in July by NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System or Atlas. Shortly after, NASA confirmed that the object wasn't from our solar system at all. It's an interstellar object, only the third ever discovered.

[00:32:49]The first one was Amoa Mua in 2017 which looked long and flat and didn't behave like a normal rock. The second was comet Bi Borosov in 2019.

[00:33:02]Now we have three Atlas and it is enormous compared with the other two.

[00:33:07]Its nucleus is up to 3 1/2 m wide while Omua Mua was only about a/4 mile long and Boris was around a half mile across.

[00:33:18]Besides being huge, three Atlas is unusual in several other ways. As it moves through the solar system, it's releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide and gas. This suggests [music] that three Atlas is 3 to five orders of magnitude, which means 1,000 to 100,000 times more massive than the other two known interstellar visitors. Such an enormous difference is a real scientific mystery. It's also traveling incredibly fast, about 150,000 mph, which is almost 200 times the speed of sound. And unlike objects in our solar system, which followed curved paths because of gravity, 3i Atlas is moving on a nearly straight line. That alone makes it stand out. These odd behaviors have led some researchers to consider a pretty unexpected idea. Three Atlas might be a probe sent by another civilization, possibly to study Earth. According to this theory, the object could be a sign of some kind of intelligence from beyond our solar system. Why do they think this? Well, because the object's movement doesn't match what you'd expect [music] from something controlled only by gravity. It also passes close to Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. And these are the planets that might be especially interesting for an outside civilization to observe.

[00:34:46]Another very unusual feature of ThreeI Atlas's path is that [music] its orbit is tilted only a little compared to the plane of the solar system about 5° and it moves in the opposite direction to most planets. This feature might allow the object or its creators to take [music] extremely precise measurements of planets. things like their orbits and sizes to plan a perfect flight route through the solar system. And if three Atlas suddenly changes direction [music] at some point, that could mean it's using a built-in engine instead of simply drifting through space. Now, new photos have also shown that three [music] Atlas has at least seven jets blasting material into space, [music] some shooting in totally opposite directions. Now, if this thing is just a normal comet, it would have [music] had to lose a huge amount of its original mass when it passed near the sun, way more than just 10 to 20%. Only some of that material would actually push the object in one direction. So, the total amount blown off would need to be [music] massive. If that's what happened, then there should be now a giant cloud of gas and dust around three eye atlas. And if that cloud exists, it'll be pretty easy to figure out what the comet is made of. The James Web Space [music] Telescope will check this when ThreeI Atlas gets closest to Earth on December 19th, 2025.

[00:36:17]But if ThreeI Atlas is not a normal comet and is actually some kind of technology, it wouldn't need to lose that much material. Engines built by an advanced civilization could give it a boost while using way less gas because they shoot it out way faster. Faster exhaust gives more push with less fuel.

[00:36:38]So a technological object wouldn't need to blast away big chunks of itself the way a natural comet would. So to sum it up, there's still a big mystery [music] around three eye atlas. Could it really be a technological mother ship that released small probes into the inner solar system? But C2025V1 [music] doesn't fit that idea. Unless one of the objects use some kind of engine. The closest their orbits ever come is about 46 million miles and the two objects themselves were never closer [music] to each other than about 140 million miles.

[00:37:16]The tiny non-gravitational push detected in three Atlas is nowhere near strong enough to close this gap. So [music] C 2025V1 is almost certainly not one of the many probes people imagine 3II Atlas might have released.