New Delhi, Oct. 2 -- Astronomers on Friday will finally get a chance to observe interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS up close, when the comet flies past Mars, giving scientists an opportunity to glean insights from an ancient deep space relic.

An object of intense speculation and controversy, 3I/ATLAS, understood to be the third visitor to the Solar System from another star system, got the entire scientific community talking after initial observations of the celestial object prompted Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb to suggest that it could be an artificial object, possibly sent by an extraterrestrial civilization.

First spotted on July 1, 2025, 3I/ATLAS was found to be moving through the Solar System at almost twice the velocity of previous in...