Mysterious interstellar visitor set to reveal its true self in just HOURS

The mysterious interstellar visitor traveling through our solar system may finally reveal its true nature in just hours, as scientists wait for it to emerge from behind the sun.

While many astronomers are convinced the object known as 3I/ATLAS will be confirmed as a comet, some scientists have said the three-mile-long visitor could be an artificially constructed craft that's maneuvering around the solar system.

3I/ATLAS has been obscured by the sun since last week, but it will reach its closest point, called the perihelion, on October 29.

Scientists expect to determine which scenario is correct once they observe exactly where the object exits perihelion, saying that a noticeable shift in its trajectory tomorrow could indicate that 3I/ATLAS is artificially powered.

In space travel, the most effective moment to accelerate or decelerate a spacecraft is when it is closest to a massive body. Firing the engine at this point, an effect known as the Oberth effect, produces the greatest change in speed.

The majority of astronomers have maintained that 3I/ATLAS is simply a strange space rock from a distant solar system that formed under conditions completely foreign to comets in our solar system.

Studies of the interstellar visitor to this point have shown the classic signs of 3I/ATLAS being a comet, including a tail and a coma, a large cloud of gas and dust surrounding it.

However, some researchers have argued that there are still too many irregularities to overlook, including 3I/ATLAS appearing to reverse thrust like a spacecraft as it moved behind the sun from our perspective.

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb has argued since the object's discovery that 3I/ATLAS could be an 'alien mothership' which could be positioning itself in this blind spot to either change direction or release smaller probes before continuing on its journey.

Loeb said 3I/ATLAS could be completing a maneuver known as the Oberth effect to change its speed and path, which would be a sign that it has an engine and was being controlled by an unknown intelligence.

Astronomers tracking 3I/ATLAS revealed last week that the object performed a dramatic tail reversal, shifting from an unusual 'anti-tail' that was pointing towards the sun to one that was pointing away.

High-resolution observations from the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands confirm that this anti-tail seen in July and August 2025 vanished and a new one formed in the opposite direction by September.

The shift is believed to have occurred because the comet's dust and ice particles reacted differently to sunlight.

Early on, large, slow-moving dust grains scattered light sunward, creating the anti-tail.

As 3I/ATLAS moved closer to the sun, rising temperatures ejected more ice fragments and longer-lived dust particles, producing the tail that now points away like a traditional comet moving through space.

However, Loeb has noted that 3I/ATLAS shed very little of its mass as it has moved closer to the sun, meaning the true nature of the object's chemical makeup is still a mystery.

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Through October 2025, the supposed comet has seen about two million tons melt away as it approached the sun, which is just a tiny fraction of the 33billion tons Loeb has calculated the giant object to weigh.

Moreover, Loeb told the Daily Mail that scientists still can't explain how 3I/ATLAS is releasing nickel in a gaseous form as it moves around the sun.

'Nobody understands how nickel can be released into the gas form, because you need a special process for that, and the temperatures are not high enough to release the nickel, so that's a puzzle,' Loeb explained.

Nickel is a metal used by Earth-made space technology to shield against the extreme heat from booster engines, and 3I/ATLAS seems to be coated in it.

Until now, astronomers have only seen nickel alongside deposits of iron in nature, but Loeb noted that there have been no signs of iron in 3I/ATLAS at all.

'That is unprecedented in comets. So, it's not so much the existence of nickel. It's the nickel without iron, which we only know about in the context of nickel alloys that we produce industrially for spacecraft,' the professor added.

While Loeb said any drastic change in 3I/ATLAS speed, course, or size when it emerges from the sun would be a clear sign of intelligence, other scientists still believe these changes still fall in line with normal comet behavior.

Austrian astronomer Michael Jäger told Daily Mail: 'Even though there were some unusual things about this comet, I still assume that we are observing a comet here.'

'This is because 3I/ATLAS has not changed its course or its calculated speed so far,' Jäger continued.

The scientist added that even if the interstellar object splits apart as it emerges from the sun, that's not uncommon for comets, which have been observed breaking apart as they travel through space.

'A split of a comet would not be so unusual. Just a few weeks ago, the split of comet 240P/NEAT was confirmed,' Jäger concluded.