Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has just pulled off the kind of stunt that keeps planetary scientists humble. After racing through its closest swing past the sun, instruments recorded an apparent void on or near its surface, a feature described as a 310,000 mile wide hole that instantly raised questions about what violent forces were at work. I see this moment as a stress test of our understanding of both interstellar visitors and the sun itself, forcing researchers to disentangle a rare comet flyby from equally dramatic solar activity.
The object, formally cataloged as 3I/ATLAS, is only the third confirmed interstellar body to pass through our solar system, following 1I/ʻOumuamua and comet 2I/Borisov. Its rapid evolution from a faint speck near Jupiter to a highly active comet near perihelion, and now to an object associated with a 310,000 mile scale structure, has turned a niche observing campaign into a front line of heliophysics and planetary science.
The interstellar visitor that would not slow down
Before the drama around the giant void, 3I/ATLAS was already an outlier. When astronomers first picked it up within the orbit of Jupiter, the object was moving at about 137,000 miles per hour, a speed that immediately marked it as an interstellar traveler rather than a comet bound to the sun. That velocity, combined with its sharply hyperbolic trajectory, told researchers that the comet was only passing through once, carrying material from another star system that would never return after this single flyby. I see that as the central scientific opportunity: a chance to sample, remotely, the chemistry and structure of a body that formed under different stellar conditions.
As the orbit was refined, scientists confirmed that 3I/ATLAS was on a one way path that would take it deep into the outer solar system and then back to interstellar space. Reporting on the object’s trajectory emphasized that this Interstellar visitor would head outward after its closest approach to Earth, following a path reminiscent of comet 2I/Borisov but with its own distinct orbital tilt and speed. That outbound leg is not just a footnote. It means every observation window is finite and shrinking, which is why observatories from professional facilities to advanced backyard setups have been racing to capture spectra, light curves, and high resolution images before 3I/ATLAS fades for good.
Perihelion, “This Wednesday,” and a comet that got very active
The turning point in the story came as 3I/ATLAS approached perihelion, the moment when it passed closest to the sun. Forecasts earlier in the year warned that This Wednesday in late Oct would mark a surge in activity as the comet swung through its closest solar pass. That prediction was grounded in basic comet physics: as an icy nucleus heats up, volatile ices sublimate, jets erupt, and dust is lofted into a coma and tail. In the case of 3I/ATLAS, observers indeed saw the object brighten and develop more complex structure as it neared the sun, confirming that its nucleus was responding vigorously to the rising heat.
Perihelion also marked the beginning of the comet’s long departure from our cosmic neighborhood. Analysts noted that as Very fast as 3I/ATLAS is moving, the months around perihelion and its subsequent closest approach to Earth offered a rare window for detailed study before the comet’s orbit carried it away forever. I see this as a classic tradeoff in planetary science: the most interesting physics happens when an object is closest to the sun and most active, but that is also when geometry, glare, and rapid motion make observations hardest. The surprise that followed, the appearance of a 310,000 mile scale feature, unfolded against that backdrop of both opportunity and constraint.
Closest approach to Earth and a carefully watched flyby
While perihelion was the moment of maximum solar heating, the closest pass by our planet was the moment of maximum public attention. Projections showed that 3I/ATLAS would come within about 168 m miles of Earth, or roughly 270 m kilometres, a safe but scientifically useful distance. That separation is far greater than the gap between Earth and the moon, yet close enough that large telescopes and even some consumer grade gear could track the comet’s changing brightness and morphology. For planetary defense specialists, the flyby was a reminder that interstellar objects can pass through the inner solar system without posing any impact risk, while still offering a wealth of data about how such bodies behave.
During this period, astronomers refined measurements of the comet’s nucleus size, rotation, and outgassing, though many of those details remain under active analysis and are Unverified based on available sources. What is clear is that the combination of a 168 m mile miss distance and the comet’s 137,000 miles per hour speed created a fleeting alignment that will not repeat. I see that as one reason the subsequent report of a 310,000 mile wide hole drew such intense scrutiny: with only a narrow window to observe, any unexpected structure or anomaly becomes a high priority target for every instrument that can be brought to bear.
The 310,000 mile hole and the confusion around ATLAS
The phrase that grabbed headlines was stark: after 3I/ATLAS reached its closest point to the sun, a 310,000 mile wide hole appeared on or near its surface. Coverage described how, once Jan perihelion had passed, imaging and solar monitoring data revealed a structure described as a 310,000 mile wide hole, immediately linked in public discussion to the comet’s passage. The wording invited a dramatic mental picture, as if a chunk larger than the distance between Earth and the moon had been carved out of the comet itself. In reality, the scale alone should have been a clue that something more complex was going on, because no known comet nucleus approaches that size.
Scientists quickly clarified that the enormous feature was not a literal cavity in the comet but a large scale structure associated with solar activity that happened to emerge around the same time. Reporting noted that in late 2025 confusion arose when the 310,000 mile wide hole appeared, though researchers confirmed that the comet and the solar phenomenon were unrelated, even as ATLAS remained under intense observation. I see this episode as a case study in how overlapping solar and cometary events can blur together in public perception, especially when both involve extreme scales and are framed with similar language about holes, gaps, or voids in the sun’s atmosphere.
Solar flares, 310,000 miles, and what really punched the hole
To understand the 310,000 mile figure, it helps to look at what the sun was doing at roughly the same time. Separate reporting on solar activity described how two almost simultaneous flares erupted from opposite sides of the sun, linked to active regions whose sunspots were approximately 310,000 miles apart, or about 500,000 kilometers. That separation, greater than the distance between the moon and Earth, underscored just how vast solar magnetic structures can be, and how easily a gap or dark region in the corona can reach scales that sound almost incomprehensible. When I compare that to the language around the comet associated hole, it becomes clear that the same order of magnitude is at play, but the physical context is entirely different.
In that solar event, the 310,000 miles figure referred to the spacing between sunspots, not to any solid object being removed, and the 500,000 kilometers distance was used to illustrate the reach of the magnetic system driving the flares. The report on those 310,000 miles apart sunspots shows how easily a dramatic number can migrate from a technical description of solar geometry into a more sensational framing about a hole. When that number then appears in coverage of 3I/ATLAS, it is understandable that readers might conflate a coronal gap or sunspot spacing with a structural change in the comet. I see the scientific consensus, as reflected in the clarification that the comet and the solar hole were unrelated, as a reminder that correlation in time does not imply causation in space, especially when the scales involved are so different.
More from Morning Overview