Interstellar comet surprises scientists with unusual behavior near Sun

Technology Nov 04, 2025

Comet 3I/ATLAS is turning heads in the astronomy world after showing some seriously unexpected behavior near the Sun last week.
Instead of following a typical path, it suddenly brightened, changed color, and displayed unexpected motion—leaving researchers puzzled.

A new type of space object?

Unlike most comets, 3I/ATLAS turned blue and developed an "anti-tail" that points toward the Sun.
It also took a strange route past Mars, Venus, and Jupiter—way off what's normal for interstellar visitors.
Even stranger: there was no usual debris or mass loss as it got close to the Sun.
All this has scientists wondering if we're looking at a brand new type of space object.