As the calendar ticks towards 19 December, online doomsday fears surrounding the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS show little sign of abating, despite firm scientific rebuttals. Nasa has stressed that this third confirmed extrasolar object carries zero risk to Earth. Unearthed in July 2025 by the ATLAS telescope network, the comet will make its nearest pass at 1.8 astronomical units – roughly 270 million kilometres – on Friday.
Its speed exceeding 60 kilometres per second and origins from another star system have ignited imaginations. Claims it might be a probe adjusting course nod to Avi Loeb's theories on interstellar oddities. Such 3I/ATLAS doomsday fears spring from misconstrued paths and end-times tales in digital echo chambers – hardly a surprise in an age of instant alarm.
