3I/Atlas: A Short Checklist

The Sky Live

With 3I/Atlas now post-perijove and well out of Jupiter's Hill radius, let's check the status of some claims or concerns that were publicly made/raised as it traversed our Solar System, or as Ray described it, "....sliding" along the ecliptic plane. These observations will be deduced solely from Ray's visuals and information, simply because most of these claims or concerns are dependent upon our Visitor changing its trajectory in some way. A trajectory that looks to me to have been carefully and intentionally calculated. And of course, my opinions only.

Here are the links to Ray's videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVAJqbzcedg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0PzpIETa5o

 

3I/Atlas Will Be Swallowed By Jupiter ❎

Our Visitor is merrily making its way out of our inner Solar System right now, mission accomplished. Its trajectory does not include any more Planetary rendezvous in our Solar System, and is expected to completely leave our Solar System by mid-2029. So, despite Jupiter's strong gravity and our Visitor's very close encounter, it wasn't pulled into Jupiter's orbit.

It Will Slingshot Around Our Sun Or Jupiter ❎

There was speculation that our Visitor would use either our Sun's or Jupiter's gravity to make a swing-by and head back towards Earth, seemingly to position itself closer to our Planet in order to launch an attack (?!). Ummm....as we know, this part of the Universe has been a battleground for an eternity, our Planet was invaded eons ago, and what we see (especially) now on the world stage is a result of that. 

So....

Florida Memes

 

It Will Release "Probes" �

I have no idea for this one. I'm assuming they are referring to tangible, physical objects commonly deployed for surveillance or reconnaissance, a payload that can be seen and identified. I don't think it would be possible to detect that from telescope imagery made available to the public by amateur Astronomers. If that did happen and official ultra high-end telescope arrays captured the occurrence, the data would be suppressed, unless it can be spun to serve dastardly purposes. Personally, I think the payload isn't physical but energetic ~ signed, sealed, and delivered.

 

It Will Land On Jupiter's Moon Or Go Into Hiding ❎

The reason given for this is the same as for the previous one ~ surveillance or reconnaissance. Our Visitor did not make any stop at or near Jupiter.

 

It Will Burn Up After Perihelion ❎

This one is an easy NO since we were treated to numerous amateur Astronomers' data showing our Visitor still very much intact post-perihelion.

 

In conclusion, 3I/Atlas came in, did what it had to do, minded its own business, and is now leaving. I've already written about our Visitor setting the stage for 2026 (here) so I won't go into that again. There are still assertions currently that 3I/Atlas will make a trajectory change ~ this remains to be seen.

Namarie! 💗

 

3I/Atlas Perijove

Ray's Astrophotography

Update 19 March 2026:

For clarity, because there's been some confusion, Ray is referring to the entire coma size, not only the nucleus.

It's been a while since I posted about our Interstellar Visitor, and since it is now at perijove, I thought I should make amends by at least featuring it.

Here's Ray with some data about 3I/Atlas' possible size. He's briefly mentioned it before, positing that its size is far bigger than officially given estimates. In this video, Ray takes images of both Earth and 3I/Atlas at 0.44 AU, and comparing them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrfuYvbM-Rw

My initial question is whether both images are at the same zoom/magnification level so as to make the comparison valid. Then I remind myself that Ray is the Astronomer with the relevant expertise, so of course he knows what he's doing. Even assuming that the zoom/magnification levels are not properly matched, a visual estimate places 3I/Atlas to be at least the size of Earth.

Something of at least that size....we can only imagine what sort of effects have been created within our Solar System as our Visitor speeds across.

 

Namarie! 💙

 

3I/Atlas @Perigee ~ Ray's Astrophotography

Ray's Astrophotography

 

3I/Atlas is at perigee today, and we have a livestream from Ray's Astrophotography that shows this Visitor before it proceeds to its rendezvous with Jupiter on 16 March 2026, then continue on to leave our Solar System. The above is an extract from Ray's video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBolV6q12-E

Yoda would say: A comet that does not look.

Namarie! 💙 

3I/Atlas Current Images ~ Ray's Astrophotography ~ 13 December 2025

Ray's Astrophotography

In his latest upload, Ray presents a closer look at our Visitor and brings up more details of its structure. He also managed to spot another unusual object that seems to be accompanying 3I/Atlas for a while (around 15-minute mark in video & top right in above image).

Please watch his video here.

It looks like the more Ray observes and analyses this Visitor, the more he is questioning its actual nature (and "reality" as he knew it?). I'm sure he isn't the only Astronomer going through this phase of uncertainty.

 

Namarie! 💟 

 

Ray's Astrophotography Update ~ 3 December 2025

Ray's Astrophotography

In this video, Ray analyses some recent images he took of our Visitor and makes some intriguing (and startling) conclusions. His footage is truly astounding.

I've extracted a small portion of his video, around the 12-minute mark:

Ray's Astrophotography

 

Here's the video link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JykPo8gNnj0

From what he observed, Ray's interpretation is that our Visitor is about the same size as Earth. Of course, this includes the coma but nevertheless it's still extremely humongous. And that's an understatement. 

Ray did posit this in an earlier video but he wasn't very sure, which is why I didn't mention it. But this time, he seems quite confident that this is a possibility based on his images. This seems to validate what Avi Loeb has implied for several weeks now ~ that our Visitor is way bigger than what they have "officially" told us.

For something this gigantic to be zipping across Space at that speed.... 

Is this one of the main reasons why they skirted around the entire subject? 

Why they just wanted to wave it away with carefully scripted narratives? 

Why they want us to believe that their blobby images are all there is to it? 

From his analysis, Ray also states that it looks like the coma is turning, and not the nucleus itself. This conclusion and his footage makes me think of how advanced crafts have a Plasma "bubble" around it to create an anti-gravity field that allows travel at incredible speeds ~ it can look like light fields tumbling around the craft. I am reminded of this when I look at Ray's footage. 

Which brings me to the final thing I would like to highlight, and it's that the images seem to be different from one moment to another. It also looks exceptionally bright, as if having its own source of illumination....hmmm what Avi Loeb implied as well. 

 

Namarie! 💟

Ray's Astrophotography Of 3I/Atlas

Ray's Astrophotography

This Astrophotographer's work speaks for itself. I discovered Ray only recently and have gone through a number of his videos ~ his images are really quite something.

I'll post a few links here and leave you to decide what you wish to watch should you decide to explore further. This is purely a resource-only post and I will refrain from adding my own opinions to anything apart from appreciating his work.

Ray's Astrophotography ~ showing structure

Ray's Astrophotography

Ray's Astrophotography ~ rotating

Namarie! 💗