Seeing an interstellar object pass through our sky is not exactly an event on the daily agenda. Nevertheless, 3I/Atlas it is doing exactly this: it crosses our Solar System like an unexpected guest, one of those that intrigues you enough to lean out the window even if you had no intention of doing so.
There NASAaware of the “let me see better” effect, has decided to provide a simple (and somewhat magical) way to follow the path: the interactive application Eyes on the Solar Systemwhich allows you to observe its journey in 3Din real time, as if we were next to him in his silent race.
The NASA app
Comets, as we know, have that ancient charm that resists everything. But when an object that is unique arrives, the atmosphere changes: we find ourselves in front of a guest who brings with him a piece of an elsewhere that is impossible to imagine.
3I/Atlas has been identified July 1, 2025 from the telescope ATLAS in Chile. The acronym “3I” stands for “third interstellar object ever observed”, after ‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. Three in all: so to speak, rare stuff.
NASA has therefore decided to open a privileged window on this close (but not too close) encounter, offering the public an accessible and intuitive way to “travel alongside it”: Eyes on the Solar System in fact, it allows you to see the trajectory of the comet, its position with respect to the planets, the distance from Earth and even its future path. All in real time, like a sort of interactive planetarium that instead of making you look up at the ceiling catapults you directly into space.
First question that pops into anyone’s mind: “What if it hits us?”. But we can rest assured: 3I/Atlas poses no threat to Earth. It will go to about 1.8 astronomical unitsthat is to say 270 million kilometers. A highway of safety.
Its point of closest approach to the Sun has already occurred on October 30, 2025approximately 210 million kilometers from our star. But the most interesting aspect is the international scientific mobilization that its presence has triggered: James Webb, Hubble and the European probe JUICE they are following his journey to collect invaluable data on an object that comes directly from interstellar space. A scientific window that will reopen at the beginning of December 2025when the object will be visible again after a “behind the scenes” period that began last September.
A natural object, or something more?
Officially, 3I/Atlas is treated as a comet. But in recent months there has been no shortage of bolder speculation: the astrophysicist Avi Loebfor example, he invited us not to rush to conclusions, remembering that some behaviors of the object could also lead us to think of a artificial probe came from afar.
Nothing confirmed, obviously. Just hypotheses. But the beauty of space is also this: openness to mystery, without forcing and without sensationalism. 3I/Atlas, at the moment, remains what it is: a celestial body to be observed with patience, as it approaches our instruments again.
To make this cosmic adventure more inclusive, NASA created a section dedicated to 3I/Atlas within its free application. From there you can explore the object’s trajectory as a path traced in space, see how it moves between orbits and planets, observe speeds, distances and relative positions.
The amazing thing is the simplicity: you don’t have to be an astrophysicist to understand it. Everything is clear, visual, intuitive. And it gives that slightly “behind the scenes of the Universe” feeling that always manages to captivate anyone with even a modicum of curiosity.
