Comet 3I/ATLAS May Have Broken Into 16 Or More Pieces, Says Scientist

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS may have broken apart after passing close to the Sun on October 30. The theory has been put forth by Harvard Physicist Avi Loeb after he analysed the comet’s new pictures captured late last week. The images revealed that 3I/ATLAS has multiple outflowing jets millions of kilometres long and the loss of its material is inconsistent with its surface area.

3I/ATLAS was discovered by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey telescope in July, and it has been a subject of debate due to its unusual characteristics like a lack of cometary tail, sudden unexplained brightness and increased acceleration.

What’s happening with 3I/ATLAS?

The latest images show that the comet has a jet about million km long pointing toward the Sun and nearly three million km in the opposite direction. Based on his calculations, Loeb wrote in a blog that these jets have caused 3I/ATLAS to lose 16% of its total mass (33 billion tons), and concluded that it’s most likely because the comet got disintegrated.

Citing the Hubble telescope observations, Loeb says the comet has a surface area 5.6 km wide. But an object shedding this much material (roughly five billion tons per month) should have a surface area between 23-50 km across. This means, he says, the comet could have broken into 16 or more pieces.

“Breakup into fragments would have increased the surface area of its material,” Loeb wrote adding that 3I/ATLAS exploded at perihelion (closest point to the Sun) and “we are witnessing the resulting fireworks.”

“The tidal force of the Sun is expected to separate the fragments in the coming weeks, creating an appearance similar to that of the comet Shoemaker-Levi 9 in 1994 near Jupiter,” Loeb further wrote.

Just captured interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS from Sabadell Observatory barely an hour ago — a bit blurry due to its low altitude, but still amazing to see! ☄️✨ #3IATLAS #Astronomy pic.twitter.com/SLsBdvRxPz
— Joan Miquel González Navarra (@astrojoanmiquel) November 9, 2025

But there’s another interesting aspect of this theory – a contrasting scenario. If upcoming observations during 3I/ATLAS’s close approach with Earth on December 19 show the comet intact, “we will have to consider that it is something other than a natural comet,” says Loeb. He also says those observations will confirm whether the jets behave like natural gas or are being produced from alien-tech thrusters.

Another ‘anomaly’ pointed out by the scientist is 3I/ATLAS’s presence in our solar system. This comet is a million times more massive than 1I/Oumuamua and Loeb says it is statistically impossible for such a large object to enter our solar system. He calculated that the odds of a natural comet’s retrograde trajectory and alignment near the ecliptic plane same as Earth are about one in a hundred million.