Does a video clip show a timelapse of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, captured by the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, released on July 15, 2025, by NSF’s NOIRLab and the University of Hawaii? No, that’s not true: The authentic image of the comet released by astronomers looks nothing like the video clip circulating on social media. Rather than showing an interstellar object, the video clip may be a hoax using video of a microscopic organism.
The mislabeled video clip appeared in a post (archived here) published on Instagram by @allbrightbretthunter on Oct. 26, 2025. The post was captioned:
This is a timelapse of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, captured by the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii using multiple filters. It was released on July 15, 2025, by NSF’s NOIRLab and the University of Hawaii. The beaded, colorful appearance comes from combining 16 images showing the comet’s motion and coma.
This is a still from that video clip:
Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from instagram.com/reel/DQR5bSWkaxe.
The authentic image (pictured below) which was released by NOIRLab (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory) on July 15, 2025 (archived here) was captioned:
Interstellar objects are visitors from solar systems beyond our own, and the third ever such object, known as 3I/ATLAS, has just been discovered. Using the Gemini North telescope, astronomers have captured 3I/ATLAS as it makes its temporary passage through our cosmic neighborhood. These observations will help scientists study the characteristics of this rare object’s origin, orbit, and composition.
Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2522.
Reverse image searches with a screenshot from the mislabeled clip did not find exact matches to reveal the origin of the video clip. Google’s AI, which carries a disclaimer that “AI responses may include mistakes”, repeats the false claim found in social media posts (pictured below), and wrongly identifies the image as Comet 3I/ATLAS.
Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from google.com/search.
A reverse image search with Yandex (pictured below) also failed to produce an exact match, but provided images of microscopic organisms such as Paramecia, and one image of a galaxy, with a similar appearance (pictured below).
Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from yandex.com/images/search.
Lead Stories reached out to microbiology experts and will update this fact check with their analysis when they reply.
