Harvard physicist Dr. Avi Loeb suggests that the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, discovered recently, may be an alien probe due to its unusual characteristics and trajectory.
A recently discovered interstellar object, known as 3I/ATLAS, is raising eyebrows among astronomers, particularly Harvard physicist Dr. Avi Loeb, who posits that its peculiar features could indicate it is more than just a typical comet.
“Maybe the trajectory was designed,” Dr. Loeb stated in an interview with Fox News Digital. “If it had an objective to sort of be on a reconnaissance mission, to either send mini probes to those planets or monitor them… It seems quite anomalous.”
The object was first detected in early July by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope located in Chile. This discovery marks only the third time an interstellar object has been observed entering our solar system, according to NASA.
While NASA has classified 3I/ATLAS as a comet, Dr. Loeb pointed out an intriguing detail: an image of the object reveals an unexpected glow appearing in front of it, rather than trailing behind, which he described as “quite surprising.”
“Usually with comets, you have a tail, a cometary tail, where dust and gas are shining, reflecting sunlight, and that’s the signature of a comet,” he explained. “Here, you see a glow in front of it, not behind it.”
Measuring approximately 20 kilometers across, 3I/ATLAS is larger than Manhattan and is unusually bright given its distance from Earth. However, Dr. Loeb emphasized that its most striking characteristic is its trajectory.
“If you imagine objects entering the solar system from random directions, just one in 500 of them would be aligned so well with the orbits of the planets,” he noted.
The interstellar object originates from the center of the Milky Way galaxy and is expected to pass near Mars, Venus, and Jupiter—an occurrence that Dr. Loeb argues is highly improbable to happen by chance.
“It also comes close to each of them, with a probability of one in 20,000,” he stated.
According to NASA, 3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to the sun—approximately 130 million miles away—on October 30.
“If it turns out to be technological, it would obviously have a big impact on the future of humanity,” Dr. Loeb remarked. “We have to decide how to respond to that.”
In January, astronomers from the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics mistakenly identified a Tesla Roadster launched into orbit by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as an asteroid, highlighting the complexities of identifying objects in space.
A spokesperson for NASA did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding 3I/ATLAS.
Source: Original article