If 3I/ATLAS Breaks Apart: What Its Fragments Could Mean for Earth and the Skies Above

If this interpretation is correct, it means that 3I/ATLAS underwent a full-scale disintegration event, likely triggered by intense solar heating. Its trajectory took it deep into the inner solar system, where volatile materials — ices, gases, and possibly exotic compounds — could have rapidly vaporized, producing what Loeb calls “the resulting fireworks.”

What Happens to the Fragments?

The physics of the breakup resemble those observed with Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, which was torn apart by Jupiter’s gravity before crashing into the planet in 1994. In this case, however, 3I/ATLAS’s fragmentation would have been caused by solar tidal forces and thermal stress — the same destructive combination that can tear comets apart as they graze the Sun.

As Loeb notes, the tidal forces of the Sun are expected to gradually separate the fragments in the weeks following the breakup. The smaller pieces would continue along roughly similar trajectories, forming a loose train of debris moving through space at extraordinary speed. This would not threaten Earth directly, since the object’s orbit is hyperbolic — it’s on a one-time pass through the solar system.