Paul Craggs set up his telescope in his Ontario backyard on the night of November 22, 2025. Within 30 seconds of exposure time, he had captured the clearest amateur photographs of 3I/ATLAS, an object that traveled from beyond our solar system. Within days, his astrophotography work appeared in scientific debates, news coverage across three continents, and a Harvard astronomer’s controversial claims about alien technology.
The photographs show something astronomers are still arguing about today.
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The Third Visitor From Interstellar Space
On July 1, 2025, the ATLAS survey telescope in Chile detected an object moving through our solar system on a hyperbolic trajectory. That path meant one thing: 3I/ATLAS didn’t originate here. It came from interstellar space, making it only the third confirmed object from beyond our solar system ever observed.
The first was Oumuamua in 2017, followed by comet 2I/Borisov in 2019. Both sparked intense scientific interest. Both left more questions than answers.
3I/ATLAS measures somewhere between 440 meters and 5.6 kilometers across. It reached its closest point to the Sun on October 30, 2025, passing within 1.4 astronomical units at speeds exceeding 153,000 mph. Professional observatories worldwide tracked it: Hubble, James Webb Space Telescope, Parker Solar Probe, even Mars orbiters.
Then came November, and an amateur astronomer in Canada.
Who Captured These Images
Craggs isn’t affiliated with any university or research institution. He shoots space photography from his backyard. His equipment budget sits around $550, mostly for his Dwarf 3 smart telescope. He shares his work freely online and runs a small fundraising campaign to build a backyard observatory.
Before his images of the interstellar object went viral, he was known mostly in amateur astronomy forums.
His November 22 and 24 photographs changed that overnight.
What the Photos Show
Most comet images reveal diffuse clouds of gas and dust, the classic fuzzy appearance of sublimating ice. Craggs’ astrophotography of 3I/ATLAS shows something different. The object appears more compact, with what some describe as structured illumination rather than the expected coma and tail morphology.
Each image required just 30 seconds of exposure. The clarity shocked professional astronomers who had seen images from far more expensive equipment show less detail.
The photographs immediately caught attention for another reason: they looked unusual for a comet.
The Telescope That Did It
The Dwarf 3 represents a shift in astronomy equipment. For under $550, users get:
Core specifications:
- 35mm aperture with 150mm focal length telephoto lens
- Sony IMX678 sensor built for low-light conditions
- 737mm effective focal length
- Weighs 1.3 kilograms
- Smartphone app control with automated celestial tracking
Compare this to professional astrophotography setups costing tens of thousands of dollars. The Dwarf 3 fits in a backpack, runs on battery power, and requires no technical training to operate.
Craggs proved you don’t need institutional resources to make observations that matter.
The Controversy That Followed
Avi Loeb saw the images. The Harvard astronomer has built a reputation for controversial claims about interstellar objects, most notably suggesting Oumuamua might be alien technology rather than a natural space rock.
He cited Craggs’ work in multiple posts, pointing to features he considered anomalous: an anti-tail pointing toward the Sun, acceleration that couldn’t be explained by gravity alone, unusual chemical signatures. Loeb suggested these characteristics might indicate artificial origins.
Most astronomers rejected his interpretation immediately.
Jason Wright at Penn State examined the same data and found conventional explanations for every supposed anomaly. NASA and ESA maintained their assessment: 3I/ATLAS behaves like a comet from another star system. Radio observations by Breakthrough Listen, a project designed to detect alien signals, found nothing artificial about the object.
Research analyzing social media found that 40% of posts about the interstellar visitor mentioned aliens, mostly influenced by Loeb’s public statements.
The scientific consensus held firm. This is a comet, not a spacecraft.
Where Things Stand Now
3I/ATLAS made its closest approach to Earth on December 19, 2025, passing 270 million kilometers away. By early 2026, it had already left the inner solar system, heading back into the space between stars. No spacecraft we currently have could catch it.
Scientists continue working through the data collected during its brief visit. Multiple research papers are in preparation. The object’s chemical composition, rotation characteristics, and outgassing behavior will provide insights into planetary systems beyond our own.
For Craggs, the attention transformed his small online presence. His images appeared in International Business Times, BBC Sky at Night Magazine, and scientific discussions he never expected to be part of. His observatory fundraising campaign got a substantial boost.
He recently posted new images of other celestial objects, each one shared freely with the astronomy community.
What Amateur Astrophotography Proves
The next interstellar object will arrive eventually. Astronomers don’t know when, but statistics suggest another visitor within the next few years. When it does, thousands of amateur astronomers will point their telescopes skyward.
Some will use equipment costing hundreds of dollars, not millions. Some will photograph from suburban backyards, not remote mountaintop observatories. And some of them, like Paul Craggs with his images of 3I/ATLAS, will capture something that advances our understanding of what travels through the cosmos.
Professional astronomy has never had a monopoly on discovery. In an era where a smartphone-controlled telescope can reveal details of an interstellar visitor, it has even less of one now.
The images Craggs captured won’t settle the debate about what 3I/ATLAS really is. But they prove that the next person to photograph something remarkable from beyond our solar system might be anyone, anywhere, with clear skies and the patience to look up.
