Is 3I/ATLAS Real or Fake?

The interstellar object is racing towards us at 135,000 MPH and supposedly the James Webb telescope just captured this shot if it. But it’s probably fake…or is it?

Grok gives us a breakdown of what it actually is:

3I/ATLAS, also known as C/2025 N1 (ATLAS), is a real astronomical object, confirmed as the third known interstellar comet to pass through our solar system. It was discovered on July 1, 2025, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Chile, with additional observations from telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope, and Vera C. Rubin Observatory. These observations, including 122 from 31 observatories by July 2025, confirm its existence and characteristics, such as a hyperbolic orbit (eccentricity of ~6.3), a reddish coma, and a nucleus likely less than 5.6 km in diameter. Its interstellar origin is established by its high speed (up to 61 km/s) and trajectory, which show it is not gravitationally bound to the Sun.

Speculation about 3I/ATLAS being an alien probe, notably from astronomer Avi Loeb, stems from its initial brightness and lack of typical cometary gas signatures in early spectra. However, these claims are widely criticized as lacking evidence, with most astronomers concluding it is a natural comet based on its coma, dust emissions, and chemical makeup (rich in carbon dioxide, with some water ice). The consensus is that it’s a natural object, likely from the Milky Way’s thick disk, and not artificial.

Claims on X suggesting it’s artificial (e.g., a “probe” or “piece of Mars”) are speculative and not supported by mainstream scientific data, which consistently points to a cometary nature. Always approach such claims critically, as extraordinary assertions require extraordinary evidence, which is absent here.