3I/ATLAS: The Virtual Telescope Project Captures Fresh Fragmentation Of The Exocomet; Here's What It Mean
Updated on 01 Dec 2025 | Category: Science
The third interstellar visitor to solar system continues to baffle
3I/ATLAS is the third ever interstellar object (ISO) to be recorded since 1I/Oumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019). The exocomet has baffled scientists, stargazers, and sapiens from all walks of life, usually found on social media.
While there is an abundance of misinformation, which also includes AI-manipulated media with sensational spin for engagement farming, there’s no dearth of real research and speculative studies based on data. Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb is in a minority few who have enlisted at least 13 anomalies on 3I/ATLAS so far that may indicate the exocomet may be more than just a billion-year-old galactic icy rock hurled our way.
Several observatories and stargazers are glued up, tracking the interstellar interloper, including the Tuscany (Italy)-based The Virtual Telescope Project that deploys robotic scopes to observe the unearthly objects that evade the human eye.
See Also: 3I/ATLAS: The Virtual Telescope Project Releases Fresh Images Of Fragmented Interstellar Comet Ahead Of Livestream
See Also: 3I/ATLAS Speed Away From The Sun Live Streaming: Here’s How To Track The Interstellar Comet (Watch Video)
See Also: 3I/ATLAS: ALMA Detects Most Enriched Concentration Of Methanol And Hydrogen Cyanide Observed In Any Comet Ever
In its latest finding, the observatory found fresh fragmentation in the bizarre comet. Releasing a snapshot of the same, The Virtual Telescope Project stated
we see a new fragment just in front of the brightest component, with hints of a possible second one (or a cloud of debris) just after the latter.
Regarding the technical details of the annotated image above, the project remarked
The image above comes from the sigma-clipping combination of 12, 60-second unfiltered exposures, remotely taken with the Celestron C14+Paramount ME+SBIG ST-10XME robotic unit available as part of the Virtual Telescope Project in Manciano, Italy.
See Also: 3I/ATLAS: Observatory That First Spotted Exocomet Compares The 3 Interstellar Objects Ever To Enter Solar System
