3I ATLAS is an interstellar comet discovered in 2025, designated 3I for third interstellar object, with ATLAS being the survey that found it, and it poses no danger of hitting Earth. Like 1I Oumuamua and 2I Borisov before it, 3I ATLAS is passing through the solar system on a hyperbolic trajectory and will not intersect Earth. It is a small comet nucleus estimated at a few kilometers in size, traveling at high interstellar velocity. If a hypothetical interstellar object of that size were to hit Earth, the consequences would be catastrophic similar to other large comet impacts, but 3I ATLAS will not. For context, an impactor of 1 to 3 kilometers would release energy equivalent to tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of megatons of TNT, create a crater 20 to 50 kilometers wide, generate massive firestorms, global ejecta, tsunamis if ocean impact, and cause impact winter from dust blocking sunlight, leading to mass extinction level effects similar to the dinosaur-killing impact but smaller. However, NASA and ESA near-Earth object tracking programs confirm 3I ATLAS's orbit is far from Earth, passing at many astronomical units distance, with zero chance of impact. The comet is being observed for scientific value about interstellar material composition, not as a threat. There is no need for planetary defense action, and misinformation about interstellar objects hitting Earth often spreads online but is not supported by orbital mechanics calculations published by JPL.
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