MeerKAT Radio Detection Confirms 3I/Atlas Is Likely a Natural Comet, Weakening Alien-Craft Claims

Human curiosity about life beyond Earth intensified when 3I/Atlas — the third interstellar object ever identified — was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in mid‑June 2025. Early observations prompted speculation that this distant visitor might possess unfamiliar properties or even be artificial.

In October 2025, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, operating the MeerKAT radio array, registered the first radio emission associated with 3I/Atlas. The signal revealed clear signatures of hydroxyl radicals (OH), molecules commonly produced when water‑bearing ices are irradiated by sunlight. Those detections are consistent with a water‑rich, cometary body rather than an engineered object.

To be clear: comets, asteroids and meteorites are different classes of naturally occurring bodies. Comets are mixtures of ice and dust that develop a coma and tail as they warm; asteroids are primarily rocky; meteorites are fragments that reach Earth's surface. While humanity has placed many artificial objects into space, confirming a non‑terrestrial engineered origin for an interstellar visitor would be revolutionary — but the current radio, optical and spectroscopic evidence strongly favors a natural explanation for 3I/Atlas.

Observers report that 3I/Atlas displays a coma and tail and brightens as it approaches the Sun — behavior typical of comets. Penn State astrophysicist Jason Wright wrote on his blog AstroWright:

"It has a tail and coma like a comet. The tail and coma have the gases we expect to see from a comet. It's brightening and evolving as it warms up like comets do."

Some commentators, most notably Avi Loeb, have proposed that peculiarities in the object's behavior could indicate an artificial origin. Many astronomers disagree, noting that apparent anomalies often arise from observational limits, processing artefacts or natural variability: no two comets look identical. Publications such as Sky at Night Magazine have warned that cosmetic flares or lighting issues in images can mislead, and that 3I/Atlas follows a predictable, gravity‑dominated trajectory rather than motion that would indicate active propulsion.

NASA refers to the object as a comet and emphasizes it will remain a distant visitor, passing no closer than roughly 170 million miles (about 274 million kilometers) from Earth. The object dropped out of useful telescope view around September 2025 and is expected to return to observability after it moves past the far side of the Sun in December 2025.

Even if not manufactured, 3I/Atlas is remarkable: preliminary estimates suggest an age near seven billion years, potentially making it among the oldest known comets and an exceptional source of material from another stellar system. Continued multiwavelength observations — optical, radio and infrared — will refine our knowledge of its composition, origin and the processes that shaped it.

Why this matters: Interstellar visitors like 3I/Atlas deliver direct samples of material from other planetary systems. Studying them helps astronomers test theories of planetary formation, volatile transport, and the diversity of small bodies across the galaxy.