3IAtlas and Solar Flare, and Mars, and Jupiter

by David A. Wheatley

​The tail end of August was one of those times for those who advocate a connection between solar flares and Earthly earthquakes. There were a couple of solar flares, around M2 in their intensity, which is strong but not unusual or threatening. At the time, the Sun was aiming the flares directly at Earth, and there were a couple of almost simultaneous larger quakes, in Afghanistan, a 6, and in Nevada, a 4.8. These are not huge quakes, though over 1,600 people died in Afghanistan, and they are not huge flares. Nevada has such size quakes from time to time and had more slightly smaller quakes days prior to the 4.8, which suggests that the 4.8 is an escalation of prior tectonic activity, not necessarily related to the flare.

The one thing about this flare worth mentioning is that the usual blast of light from a flare, plus the electromagnetic wave of plasma that comes later, was prolonged over a couple of hours. The flare wasn’t a momentary eruption on the Sun; it was an hour-long sustained broadcast, which is not uncommon. The microwave emission from it was huge, much greater than normal. Flares send out electromagnetically charged plasma, which takes longer to arrive than light; light takes 8 minutes to get here. The plasma, as electromagnetic matter, is what provokes auroras, and for those who believe in it, earthquakes from stirring the core and ultimately the mantle of the Earth. I don’t deny a physical relationship between solar flares and stimulating earthquakes, but I think there’s much more to it than simple cause and effect.  From the Astrologer’s point of view, not the astronomer who deals strictly in cause and effect, my emphasis is always on the alchemy of the planets, not the chemistry. The planets and the solar system are the body of the psyche, not just physical planets. I’m much more interested in what is active in the subtle universe than the physical one, because from the Astrologer's point of view, everything happening in the physical universe is dependent on the subtle one.

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​What usually isn't mentioned when the press reports on flares are radiated microwaves, another frequency of radio bursts outside our physical senses. It was mentioned for this M2 flare because it was an above-normal sustained blast of microwaves. The microwaves are a sustained "noise" from the Sun, from which we are mostly physically shielded here on Earth. 

Why was this different from another M2 variety flare? What amplified the Sun's broadcast of microwaves? I can’t ignore the presence in the physical and non-physical chemistry from the interaction within this solar system and the 3IAtlas comet making its approach to Mars by the end of October.
3I Atlas is a physical interloper in the solar system. The latest measurement I’ve read is that, at its core, it is said to be 50 km wide, far larger than the prior two interloper comets that passed through from outside our solar system. Its corona is a staggering 700,000km wide, and growing as it approaches the Sun. The present measurement of the corona is closing in on half the size of the Sun itself, and it will grow larger in the next two months. The corona is largely carbon-based dust, mostly composed of graphite and diamond particles. These particles within the plasma cloud around the comet are capable of carrying an electromagnetic charge of electricity; both graphite and diamond dust can channel electricity in a laboratory. These physical properties are amazing from an astronomical point of view, and the speculation on what we will learn in the months to come is breaking new ground in the physical science of astronomy. 

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​Astrologically, for most of us, the effects may be subliminal in our psyche. We will observe effects in human behavior and be somewhat at a loss for analytical data (compared to the physical sciences such as astronomy) to describe in Astrological terms what this comet is bringing into our psyche. It will probably be long after the impacts work their way through our lives that Astrologers will be able to distinguish the comet’s impact compared to the usual Astrological impact of planets and planetoids we are familiar with.
But I don’t mind speculating.
The comet is not yet in its closest proximity to the Sun. Around October 29th, it will form a line of conjunction/opposition from the far side of the Sun. Atlas will be in opposition on the far side of the Sun to Earth, with the Sun and our Moon in between us. At that precise time, with the Moon between us and the Sun and Atlas, it will be a New Moon phase for those who follow the daily complexions of the Moon. 

​The Sun is at the peak of its cycle now for solar storms and flares. About two weeks ago from this writing, the far side of the Sun released a massive outburst from a sunspot, directed away from Earth. It directly impacted both Mars and Atlas. Prior to that, in the last few months, the Sun seemed to be relatively quiet or fading from a solar peak. Some astronomers said the southern hemisphere of the Sun peaked last November, and the whole body of the Sun was in decline from the peak earlier than expected. But in the last month, the daily number of sunspots has climbed again to between 10 and 12, with more potency than we have seen in several months. I wonder about this as a stimulating interaction with the approaching comet Atlas to the Sun. Following that speculation, I wonder about greater interaction between the Sun and Atlas as its already huge corona expands upon closing the distance to the Sun between now and late October. I wonder about the catalytic potentials in the physical universe and the energetic exchanges in the subtle universe. 

Click on the image below to observe 3IAtlas predicted trajectory through the solar system

​After the close approach to the Sun in late October, Atlas, moving as it is faster than any planet in our solar system, will fly out for the closest approach of its journey to any planet in our solar system, to Jupiter. The close fly-by of Mars in October doesn’t compare to the closeness of its approach to Jupiter. Strictly speaking of it in terms of proximity, Atlas will be much closer to Jupiter in March of next year than it will be to Mars in October. Jupiter is about 20 times larger than Mars and has the strongest gravity with the largest gravitational field of any planet in the solar system. Mars can fit inside Jupiter’s mass over 9000 times. That’s really big.

​We describe conjunctions in Astrology as concentrated properties of subtle energies within our psyche between planets; the planets being physical manifestations of soul properties within our psyche. Conjunctions and oppositions in particular are concentrated and always amplified by Jupiter which expands whatever it touches in our natal charts. My feeling is that March of next year will be the greatest manifestations of Atlas in our lives. It may set the table in the Fall of 2025, but it engages in its main course in March of 2026.
We have a few months to learn about its effects before it arrives in Jupiter’s neighborhood. 

​If this was not enough to boggle the mind (and maybe that’s the point), we are already in rare times because of the movements of the other outer planets, planets beyond Mars, and the asteroid belt. As many Astrologers and I have commented, I can’t find a precedent in human history, looking back a few thousand years, when Saturn and Neptune conjuncted at the beginning of Aries, plus augmented by a sextile from Uranus and Pluto on either side. Can’t compare it to anything. The zero degrees of Aries, which is the 30 degrees of Pisces, is a unique sensitive point as it commences the Zodiac. Just as Pisces has within it the essence of all prior 11 signs, the beginning of Aries is a rebirth of life cycles within this solar system, having the Zodiac’s 12 signs as the backdrop for a frame of reference. Adding the cherry on top of these incredible moments noted by Saturn and Neptune, the cherry being the Atlas comet, forces an Astrologer to rely on intuition more than data. 

​Saturn and Neptune entered Aries a few months ago, but presently begin their retrograde back into Pisces. They are not done with their work in Pisces. For both of them, their passage through Pisces has been confusing for some people and inspirational for others. Pisces is the kind of place Neptune prefers, borderless and vague, lacking structure. Pisces is the kind of place Saturn least prefers because it lacks gravity, wishy washy borders lacking a firm foundation. This has been the era of fake news because to Neptune, all news of the mundane world is fake. Nothing here is real to Neptune except what inspires the spirit to reach for the skies because to Neptune, reality is in spirit; the physical world is the dream. Reaching for the skies means nothing to Saturn; it stops you and insists on getting a ladder. Build your way to the stars. This is a confusing blend and could result in the classic Tower of Babel scenario. Actually, as agents of our higher mind, these two really need each other, but they have to work together. Build a road to spirit, but don’t rely on physical engineers to understand how the energy of spirit flows. Understand how the energies of the psyche or metaphysical psychology work, and then build the path. This is where we are at now, needing to make a step in this direction.
Saturn and Neptune retreat from dipping a toe into Aries now, and tidy up some of the unfinished business as Atlas makes its close passage to Mars, Earth, and the Sun primarily for the last quarter of 2025. Saturn and Neptune begin to leave Pisces for the last time in November and December, respectively. By the time they are at an exact conjunction in Aries in the second half of February 2026 through March 2026, 3I Atlas will arrive at Jupiter, which will be around 15-16 degrees of Cancer. Jupiter arrived at 15-16 degrees of Cancer in late August of this year. It will eventually go retrograde and finally direct back after retreating in Cancer to arrive at this same degree mid-March of 2026. We are in the extended version of Jupiter setting up at this degree, beyond which it cannot pass until the work of the next several months has passed. Anyone with natal planets placed in any sign around 15-16 degrees will be most impacted. There are also aspects like the semi-square or half-square, which are 45 degrees and also very relevant. When any planet goes retrograde and does some back peddling before finally moving forward, it spends time in one area and grows more potent because it’s slower moving and stays longer in one area. Jupiter grows more potent as it slows down into retrograde for the entire time. Its usual effect is to inflate, expand, and magnify in its exuberant willingness to grow. Expand the mind. If one is caught in a narrow, self-centered focus, this expansion can make for a bad fit; we can make assumptions that are misplaced exaggerations. Later on, we realize that we needed some perspective to get the best out of it. But it can also propel one across a threshold of optimism into a new world. 

​Anyone with a natal aspect that falls around the 15-16 degrees of any sign with an orb of an additional 2 degrees before or after will have some kind of interaction with Atlas moving very close to Jupiter next year. Jupiter is already there, Atlas won't arrive until March, but since Jupiter is there now, the story is already unfolding. It's a bit of a wild card, not knowing what kind of spice Atlas is in the Jupiter soup. The natal House location of any planet in the natal chart will suggest an area of your life where this will manifest, plus, of course, all other aspects in relation to where Jupiter's transit is in your chart. These planetary aspects are all amplified with Jupiter's months of slow motion and the eventual meeting with the comet next year. 
It comes at a time when Saturn and Neptune are cleaning up and leaving dreamy Pisces and entering Aries where things have to work, we have to know, and they have to work now. Pisces is in no hurry, things can marinate. Aries wants what it wants now. Neptune entered Pisces around the time of the Great Recession in 2010-2011. Saturn entered much later, in 2023. 
This all sounds interestingly ominous, and maybe for some people a little scary because big changes are messy and sometimes scary. Losing control can be the key to success for an artist or athlete, but madness to a brain surgeon or a dentist. 

​The 3rd Interstellar Atlas comet is estimated to vary in size, depending on who is making the estimate, between 20 and 50 km. 20 km is about 12 miles. For comparison, if a one-mile-wide comet hit New York City, the crater would take out the whole city plus part of New Jersey, the fire cloud would spread 100 miles, and the sound of the impact would be 900 miles. It would generate an earthquake of 9 on the Richter scale. That's calculated upon the average speed of a comet, which is usually faster than an asteroid but not nearly as fast as Atlas is moving. It's moving so fast we couldn't send a rocket to catch up to it from behind. Presently 66 k per second, and will be moving quicker as it gets closer and passes by the Sun.
It doesn't have a tail as comets do; it's got a gas corona around it and in front. It's outgassing 145 tons of water per hour. If it's interstellar, the assumption is that it's very old to have been able to outgas that much water and survive any length of time. It produces gas, dust, vapor, and plasma when approaching a star like our Sun, so maybe it's spent most of its existence in space, not exposed to a star. To lose that much water per hour means it had to have been very large in the past, wherever it came from. 
There's a discussion going on to repurpose the Juno Satellite, currently in orbit around Jupiter, scheduled to be mothballed this month. It still has fuel and can be standing by to study Atlas when it arrives at Jupiter in mid-March. While the distance between the comet and Mars is .19 units, (one unit is the distance between Earth and the Sun), the distance between Jupiter and the comet is 0 units. That means it could be very close without hitting it, or hit it. 

Here are some interesting new details since I completed the above initial commentary on 3IAtlas.

There is a growing belief that it has a companion comet or second component very close by. This is very speculative, but the people who want to see it as an alien probe are quick to believe the second component is a sister ship. Further speculation is that when Atlas passes about 29 million miles from Mars in October, it might send the secondary component or probe to survey Mars. For comparison, the distance between the Earth and the Sun is 93.6 million miles.
Notable comets that made a dramatic visual drive-by in the last century are accompanied by stories of alien or other-dimensional life. Comet Kohoutek in 1973 inspired stories of being a spiritually relevant vessel passing by to take on passengers before the End Times. Kohoutek fans, hopeful for that, were disappointed but get another crack at it in 2028 when it returns. There’s always a chance they may be right. Earth passes through the Taurid meteor stream twice per year, in the Summer and late Fall. This stream is believed to have brought impacts on Earth multiple times in the past millions of years and is monitored by NASA for anything that might be a future impact. Atlas is not in a repeating orbital pattern within the solar system. As everyone knows, it’s from outside the solar system.

​In recent days, Atlas has begun to produce a tail, more typical of a comet. It should not be surprising that it didn’t have a tail up to now because when it was spotted and broke into the news cycle, it was still out past the orbit of Jupiter where we don’t expect to see comets. They get noticed when they get closer to the Sun, interacting and producing various gases with the comet. Once inside the orbit of Mars in the coming weeks, it is more likely that a growing tail will emerge, towards the latter part of October.
Some observers say the slowly growing tail resembles an exhaust stream, and the glow up front resembles headlights, not a chemical reaction as it approaches the Sun. 

​The Mars Rover can take a high-resolution photo of Atlas from Mars’ surface when Atlas passes by, a much closer view than from Earth, and looking through the thin Martian atmosphere. Thin compared to Earth’s atmosphere.
More interesting to me is that the Juno satellite sent to survey Jupiter in 2016 can be reprogrammed to get a closer examination (about 50 million miles away at best) as Atlas passes Jupiter. That would happen on March 14, 2026, calculations show. I like that date for human consciousness to be directly interacting with the remarkable visitor into our solar system through human technology. Jupiter is at 16 degrees of Cancer at the time of this writing. After its retrograde motion which begins in November, Jupiter will return to this same degree of Cancer and then go into direct motion to arrive at the meeting with Atlas mid-March at 16 degrees of Cancer. This happens at the same time as the exact conjunction of Saturn and Neptune, which is an epochal moment for us all, as noted by Astrologers today. 

Almost every time I read a report on the size of Atlas, the size has changed. The core days ago was said to be 50 km across, and today another source said it’s 20 km across. Either way, it is much larger than most comets. As it passes through the asteroid belt on its way in towards the Sun, passing Jupiter’s orbit and before it gets closer to Mars, its size of 20km or 50km or even more could bang into debris in the asteroid belt, altering orbits of either body.
Atlas is not going to hit the Earth, but if a one-mile comet made of heavy or dense ores hit any large city, for comparison, you get a forty-mile-wide crater and a less than 100-mile-wide scorched Earth fireball with an earthquake around 9 on the Richter scale. This is a reason to watch for comets and asteroids, 50km, 20km or even a small one at 2km wide (just over one mile).
The earlier source I quoted on the size of the Atlas cloud of its out-gassed aura said it was as much as 700,000 km in diameter. Today I read it is smaller, only 350,000 km in diameter, but it’s growing. Maybe it will reach 700,000 km in diameter as it gets closer to the Sun. I don’t know why two scientists report such big differences in dimension.
Another phenomenon of this comet is how much water is being released as it approaches the Sun, and its cloud or coma increases in size as it produces a more substantial tail. It's outgassing an estimated 145 tons of water per hour. That’s a staggering amount of water to lose per hour, suggesting that it was much larger at some time in its earlier history. It's very old to have been able to outgas that much water and survive any length of time.  

Comments welcome.
​David can be reached at [email protected] for a personal astrological consultation.
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