The comet 3I/ATLAS is taking a long holiday journey this year. It’s visiting from another solar system altogether. Those interstellar origins have the Internet rumor mill questioning whether 3I/ATLAS came from aliens. Co-hosts <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/767284140/emily-kwong"target="_blank" >Emily Kwong</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/1082526815/regina-g-barber"target="_blank" >Regina G. Barber</a> dive into that, plus what it and other interstellar comets can tell us about planets beyond our solar system. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/30/nx-s1-5591378/3i-atlas-comet-nickel-space"target="_blank" >Read more</a> of NPR’s coverage of 3I/ATLAS. Also, if you liked this episode, check out our episodes on: - the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/09/09/nx-s1-5534348/interstellar-wormhole-black-hole-space-time-movie"target="_blank" >physics in the film Interstellar</a> - why Pluto is still helpful for <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/06/22/g-s1-5023/pluto-dwarf-planet-solar-system-ceres"target="_blank" >learning how our solar system formed</a> Interested in more space science? Email us your question at <a href="mailto:shortwave@npr.org"target="_blank" >shortwave@npr.org</a>. Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/shortwave"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org/shortwave</a>. Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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