With less than three weeks to go before 3i/Atlas reaches its closest point to Earth (December 19 and 170m miles distant) there's a great deal of conjecture about what this object truly is including the possibility that it is artificial in nature and therefore potentially it may even be a an Imminent Interstellar Invader - at least that's the inference from the announcement two days ago by the European Space Agency of the activation of the world's first ever 'planetary defence drill' which is now in place and specifically monitoring 3i~Atlas until January 27, 2026.

My news feed has featured many articles about two other interesting objects - 3361 Orpheus (an asteroid that passed closest to us ten days ago) and CWise J1249 (travelling at over 1 milion mph) - and another on which part of Earth is most likely to be impacted by an interstellar object.

This composite image of the sky above us today shows the re-emergence of C/2025 R2 Swan - a comet which is approaching the Earth from the opposite direction of 3i/Atlas in what some are interpreting as a 'pincer' movement. It also shows the Milky Way and it's interesting that Ophiuchus is the home of the Galactic Centre at the centre of the galaxy and from where the interstellar object emerged back on July 1.

The headline title and accompanying composite image was inspired by a YouTube video which can be accessed by clicking on it. The image features an amazing shot of the Milky Way taken from the southern hemisphere with details and credits to be found here. It also shows the night sky on December 19 with all the personal planets in the picture and a chart illustrating the Moon Venus conjunction in Ophiuchus which happens twelve hours before the Sagittarius new moon. Finally, I couldn't resist creating an image of the Greek Titan Atlas (he who bears the weight of the world on his shoulders) with his third eye glowing and holding a comet/interstellar object in each hand.

Of course 3i/Atlas is the third interstellar object discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System  and C/2025 R2 Swan was discovered by an instrument of that name on a European Space Agency spacecraft launched exactly thirty years ago on Tuesday (December 2) and known as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

USA Herald articles on the latest developments, an astrophotographer's revelation and a 'space weather' analyst.

If nothing is revealed on December 19 then the best opportunity to gather details information and images when 3i/Atlas is closest to Jupiter on March 16.

Further updates on this subject will be shared on my Telegram channel which you are invited to join.