Harvard Scientist Says Interstellar Comet May Be Alien Spacecraft

A mysterious object moving through the solar system has caught the attention of Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who believes it could be more than just a comet—and possibly an alien spacecraft. The interstellar body, designated 3I/ATLAS, was first spotted on July 1 and is now under close observation due to its unusual characteristics.

Loeb, known for his provocative theories on extraterrestrial life, says the object’s path raises serious questions. It travels on a rare retrograde orbit, meaning it moves against the solar system’s flow, and aligns closely with the orbital plane of Earth and other inner planets. He estimates the chances of such a natural alignment at just 0.2 percent.

He warns that if the object is artificial, it could carry probes or even hostile technology. Based on current trajectory calculations, 3I/ATLAS is expected to pass behind the sun in October and could potentially approach Earth between November 21 and December 5, 2025.

Loeb warns of a possible threat and timeline “The visitor is already in our backyard,” Loeb said, emphasizing the need to prepare for both peaceful and dangerous scenarios.

Loeb has described the object as a potential “mothership,” capable of deploying smaller devices to investigate or interact with habitable planets. He said this strategy would allow probes to reach targets like Earth while the main craft continues toward another star.

As part of his response plan, Loeb has published three pre-print research papers and proposed that NASA attempt to intercept it using the Juno spacecraft during the object’s passage near Jupiter. He also called for the creation of an interstellar risk scale ranging from zero for natural comets to ten for confirmed technological artifacts.

To prevent public panic, he argues that governments should form multidisciplinary task forces, including scientists, policymakers, and psychologists, to plan for any eventual disclosure.

Skepticism from other astronomers Not all astronomers support his theory. Chris Lintott, a professor at the University of Oxford, dismissed the alien spacecraft suggestion as “nonsense on stilts.” He told Live Science that such claims undermine serious research into the nature of 3I/ATLAS.

Despite criticism, Loeb remains firm. The object, estimated to be about 12 miles wide, is large for something entering from beyond the solar system. He points out that if this were a natural event, scientists should have detected many similar cases by now—but haven’t.

At its current speed of nearly 60 miles per second relative to Earth, 3I/ATLAS is too fast for any existing spacecraft to intercept. Loeb admits that if it turns out to be artificial, little can be done. Still, he believes the risk justifies a warning.

He compared the situation to Pascal’s wager, noting that it’s safer to prepare for the worst-case scenario, even if the object turns out to be harmless.

He’s usually right - the object has so many anomalies that it could be anything, including a Dark Forest object.

My prior comments
... this is a very unusual object that is exhibiting never before seen behavior, while crossing the solar system in such a way that it defies random chance to the vanishing point.

All solar objects have their own gravitational field: some almost none [ a 20 foot diameter asteroid ], to a lot [ the Sun ]. In this case, as explained, the ‘cloud’ [ if it is a cloud of particles ] is not supposed to be there yet, as it is too far away from the Sun to form, and has a tail facing the wrong way. The ‘cloud’ itself shows no chemical signatures, if it were an out-gassing like a normal comet. It is too small to have a shroud of particles together by gravity alone - and such a thing has never before been seen in the millions and millions of objects surveyed.

There are extreme explanations for most of the features seen, but none in this combination, and in a combination that some features would preclude some others.

What it actually is, we will know more by Oct 29th, until then ...

The object may be solid and not comet, which would make it 10-20 km in diameter. traveling at 100km per sec relative to the Earth.

If were some sort of Dark Forest object, and it changes course behind the Sun on Oct 29th, and comes toward Earth at that speed, its ELE time, baby!

This object is the largest by far that we have ever observed passing through the solar system; the odds of this size interstellar object randomly making very close approach to Mars, Venus and Jupiter, while traveling at 100km/sec, are so vanishingly small that it would take reams of paper to write the number.

Just to make matters a bit more scary, the object does not change brightness, but rather seems to be obscured by a dust cloud, which it should not have, that far from the Sun. Some observations seem to imply it does indeed rotate, and that its is thinner than it is wide. but no one can say for sure about this characteristic at the current distance.

To add more fuel to the fire, spectrographic analysis of the object has detected no chemical out-gassing whatsoever. Further, the ‘tail’ or glow does not point away from the Sun, but toward it. Which could possibly be explained by a plasma engine braking thrust ... cf: the Vasmir Engine.

But if the worst case scenario comes true, then we have nothing, nothing that would be capable of diverting a 10k object intent on hitting the Earth.

Ocean Impact:
Impact in the Atlantic at 40degN 66degW 500 miles off NYC, water depth 100-200 meters deep: Energy released would be 2.9X10 to the 8th power megatons, aka 290 million megatons; the fireball would consume the entire NE - as far as west to NY, PA, north to ME, New Brunswick, northeast to Nova Scotia, & south to VA. Over pressure wave would be 80lb per sq in, wiping out all buildings as far west as MI, OH, KY, TN, SC, & north to most of eastern Canada. Blast wind would exceeds 1,000km/h, eliminating everything sown to bedrock, followed by an earthquake.

The impact ocean crater would be 100-150km in dia, about 20-40km deep, pushing 10 Trillion kg of material into the atmosphere, 10% of which would reach the stratosphere. The following molten ejecta would cover the east coast, but not to worry, no one would be alive to see the 200-500 meter [ over 1,600 feet ] high tsunami extinguish the fires. Most major cites in Europe would also be taken out by the wave.

Land Impact:
Kansas City MO, USA. The devastation is even worse. Force and blast would be similar, but the area consumed would be bigger: gone with 100% casualties are MN, WI, IN, KY, TN, AL, MS, LA, TX, OK, IA, IL, MO, NE, AR, SD, CO, KS. Over pressure wave obliterates the center of the USA as far west as AZ, MT, WY, as far north as ND, MT, Canada & the Great Lakes region, as far east as PA, NY, GA, south to the FL panhandle, northern Mexico. Accompanied by a magnitude 7 earthquake.

and that was just for starters ... as a trillion kg of molten debris falls out of the stratosphere distributed over the entire planet, causing a short term surface temperature increase of between 5-20deg Celsius for a few hours ... over the entire planet with humans in the open suffering 2nd to 3rd deg burns 10,000 km away from the impact point.

and it gets worse, as the thrown up debris in the upper atmosphere would blot out the Sun, reducing the temperature by 10-20 C. With vast areas of the northern and southern hemispheres completely uninhabitable, conditions would exist for years, and take 100s of 1000s of year for Earth’s ecology to recover.

If human civilization survived at all, it would be set back centuries, if not millennia ...

What will happen if 3I Atlas hits the Earth? [ The Dark Forest Hypothesis ... by the time you need to do something, it will be too late ]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21EH7ttGqJo

Food for thought.

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