u/leifericm approved a comment in r/UFOB

On 14/1/2026, at approximately 03:09, u/leifericm approved a comment in r/UFOB

Original Comment

They were not real, just artifacts of over processing his data.

The good images taken by amateurs have all been since perihelion when the comet was closer and they show wide field views that include the tail(s). The recent Hubble image was very "zoomed in" so only showed the coma of 3i which is a big ball of dust and gas maybe 20,000 kilometers across and is pretty much featureless. Hubble has a fixed focal length so its "zoom" level is also fixed and it can't see details that aren't there so actually it did as well as any other telescope could have done given the circumstances.

The reality is that 3i Atlas is a small, pretty dim object that has always been too far away for any telescope to get a very clear view of it and one of the "amateur" images was taken with a $200,000 telescope.

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https://reddit.com/r/UFOB/comments/1pxvy8m/wobbling_jets_of_3iatlas_based_on_new_hubble/nwixvob/

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