Manhattan-sized interstellar object appears to emit its own light: Harvard scientist (More of Avi Loeb's provocative speculation to generate interest?)

NY Post ^ | Shane Galvin

[RoosterRedux]

Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS — which is zooming through our inner solar system — appears to be emitting its own light, according to Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb.

The observation by Loeb, if verified, would contradict NASA’s classification of the Manhattan-sized object as a comet, the scientist argues in a new blog post.

Loeb and a colleague analyzed photos released by NASA of the object in determining that the source of its glow is likely not from the sun.

The astrophysicist wrote the “brightness profile around 3I/ATLAS implies that the nucleus dominates the observed light.”

“The simplest interpretation is that the nucleus of 3I/ATLAS produces most of the light,” he wrote in the paper published Sunday.

The level of light observed on 3I/ATLAS could be achieved “from a source diameter smaller than 100 meters,” according to Loeb.

This shift in understanding the light source would also mean that 3I/ATLAS is quite smaller than initially thought, and more comparable in size to the two other known interstellar objects, Oumuamua and Borisov.

If 3I/ATLAS were reflecting light, it would mean the object was 12 miles long, which is improbable, according to the astrophysicist.

Loeb speculated that the nucleus of the object could in fact be nuclear — and possibly an engine crafted by an alien people.

“A natural nuclear source could be a rare fragment from the core of a nearby supernova that is rich in radioactive material. This possibility is highly unlikely, given the scarce reservoir of radioactive elements in interstellar space,” Loeb wrote.

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TOPICS: Astronomy; Science; UFO's
KEYWORDS: 100percentnatural; 3iatlas; astronomy; aviloeb; comet; comets; harvard; science

[P.O.E.]

appears to be emitting its own light

Interstellar Motel 6?

[GOPJ]

What is a berserker a popular science fiction name for?
Berserker (novel series) - Wikipedia
The Berserkers are intelligent machines, created by an organic race in the past, as a doomsday weapon, a group of robots with one goal: to destroy all organic life. They turned on their own creators, wiping them out.

[Pontiac]

The first thing exiting a Supernova is a burst of X-rays that travel at near the speed of light.

A burst of X-rays would from a Supernova that was close enough to send us a rock emitting its own light a would completely sterilize the Earth at least few weeks before the rock got here.

We would be dead long before we had the chance to see that rock in our telescopes.

[norwaypinesavage]

This analysis by Loeb makes no sense to me. If the ‘light’ were due to radioactivity, any inhabitants would have to be shielded, so why would the radioactivity be on the outside, and the inhabitants shielded inside it?

If the interior were to be lit and the ‘spacecraft’ had windows, the light would be far too dim to be visible at this distance. There’s no logical explanation for exterior lighting. There are presently no human built satellites or spaceships with exterior lighting. The reason for that is obvious - it would have no purpose.

[RoosterRedux]

Good points—mind expanding.

But why start with ‘radioactivity’ or, even worse, lights (as Avi did)? That’s still anthropomorphic. The ‘glow’ we register as light may be something we can’t yet imagine. Our sensors reduce it to ‘light,’ but what if they’re too primitive to capture the reality—something beyond our comprehension?

Like a grandmother dismissing Steely Dan as noise, we may be missing the real signal.

Or not.;-)