While many people have been distracted by the appearance of the mysterious flying object named 3I/ATLAS, another unexplained comet has been making its way through our solar system
Experts have been tracking a mysterious flying object through our solar system, which some have suspected to be an advanced alien spaceship. The latest developments, caught through telescopes, show that the object has turned gold.
This object, named ATLAS, has been mostly off the public radar due to another, much larger one dubbed 3I/ATLAS, which briefly passed by Earth a couple of weeks ago and is due to come back soon. This particular comet, called C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), was discovered in May by astronomers at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), which scans the night sky for moving objects using telescopes in Hawaii, Chile and South Africa.
C/2025 K1 reached its closest point to the sun, or perihelion, on Oct. 8, coming within a minimum distance of 31 million miles (50 million kilometres) of it. Strangely, this is four times closer than managed by 3I/ATLAS.
On October 29, at the same time 3I/ATLAS moved close to Earth, astrophotographer Dan Bartlett snapped a picture of C/2025 K1 from June Lake in California.
The image shows the comet with a distinct golden glow and a long tail that trails behind it, potentially caught in a solar wind.
Bartlett told Spaceweather.com: “This comet was not supposed to survive its October 8th perihelion. But it did survive, and now it is displaying a red/brown/golden colour rarely seen in comets”.
Comets usually appear white when seen in the sky, because the sunlight they reflect contains all the wavelengths of visible light. However, when specific chemicals are present within the cloud of ice, gas and dust surrounding the comet they can absorb specific wavelengths of light, causing the comet to shine with a different shade.
The strange golden colour is seemingly solved by astronomer David Schleicher, who said the comet’s surprising lack of carbon-bearing molecules has caused the colour change, but “we don’t know exactly why”.
However, previous colour changes of the other comet, 3I/ATLAS, has sparked theories about alien life.
Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb pointed out that 3I/ATLAS displayed non-gravitational acceleration and appeared “bluer than the sun” as it passed by. Loeb argued that both the acceleration and the object’s striking blue hue might actually hint at an artificial origin, possibly an engineered spacecraft.
He wrote in a post on Medium: “Alternatively, the non-gravitational acceleration might be the technological signature of an internal engine.
“This might also explain the report on 3I/ATLAS getting bluer than the Sun. For a natural comet this blue colour is very surprising.
“It could potentially be explained by a hot engine or a source of artificial light. However, it might instead be a signature of ionised carbon monoxide for a natural comet.”
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