Astronomers have confirmed that Comet 31/ATLAS, once a hot topic on social media and even on The Joe Rogan Experience, is a naturally occurring interstellar comet, not an alien probe.
Using South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope, scientists detected the first-ever radio signal from the object, finally putting to rest weeks of speculation and conspiracy theories about its origin.
The First Radio Signal from 31/ATLAS
On October 24, 2025, researchers using the MeerKAT telescope detected a distinct radio signal from Comet 31/ATLAS as it neared its closest approach to the Sun, or perihelion. The signal wasn’t a mysterious alien message, but a chemical fingerprint of water being vaporized—a clear indicator of natural cometary activity.
“The radio signature is exactly what we’d expect from a water-rich comet,” one astronomer explained. “It tells us this object is behaving in a completely natural way — there’s nothing alien about it.”
