While the world awaits media from NASA's HiRISE cam aboard its Mars observer, there's a wealth of data on 3I/ATLAS including its possible origin, trajectory, chemical composition, and even its size. The third-ever interstellar visitor in the solar system after 1I/Oumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019), 3I/ATLAS or C/2025 N1 (ATLAS) was discovered on July 01, 2025.
The object maneuvered nearest to the sun at 1.35 AU on October 29. The phenomenon, also known as the perihelion, was dubbed a black swan event for earthlings by Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb. The scientist speculates that the comet could be anything but one, owing to several anomalies in its behavior. He has since listed 12 anomalies found in 3I/ATLAS that the professor believes could be a tell-tale sign of an alien probe from beyond. The bizarre comet will fly by closest to the Earth on December 19 with a minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 0.36 AU.
Currently cruising at a phenomenal speed of 61 km/s, it was temporarily listed on the Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page (NEOCP) by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) until its true trajectory was ascertained. While the comet has zero chances to cruise anywhere closer to earth and thus disrupt life on the pale blue dot, what if something of its size crashed?
See Also: 3I/ATLAS: Newly Released Image Of The Interstellar Comet Confirms Harvard Astrophysicist Avi Loeb's Suspicion?
See Also: 3I/ATLAS: Harvard Astrophysicist Avi Loeb Spots 12th Anomaly In The Interstellar Comet
See Also: 3I/ATLAS: European Space Agency Shoots The Interstellar Comet With 10 Times Accuracy From Its Mars Orbiter
Before we make some conjectures, here are the sizes of a couple of natural and man-made structures on Earth. See how they stake against 3I/ATLAS.
Golden Gate Bridge | San Francisco
One of the longest and tallest suspension bridges, the Golden Gate Bridge has a main span of nearly 1.2 kilometers and an overall area encompassing 2.7 kilometers.
Mt Fuji | Japan
An active volcano, this Japanese summit has an elevation of 3.3 kilometers and encompasses an area of 207 sq km. The last volcanic activity in the serene mountain was in between 1707-08
Mt Everest | China & Nepal
The planet's highest mountain has a peak elevation of 8.8 kilometers. It encompasses an area of 1,500 sq km.
3I/ATLAS
The nucleus of the comet has been estimated to be between 320 meters and 5.6 kilometers based on the Hubble Space Telescope. Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb calculated its total mass at around 33 billion tons at least.
What could possibly go wrong if there's an impact event?
See Also: 3I/ATLAS Speed Away From The Sun Live Streaming: Here's How To Track The Interstellar Comet (Watch Video)
See Also: 3I/ATLAS: NASA To Finally Share Unreleased Images Of Interstellar Comet In Live Event; Here's How To Watch
Images: Golden Bridge, Mount Fuji, Mount Everest
Video: Grok AI
Cover: Grok AI