Posted on 11/06/2025 7:10:07 AM PST by Red Badger
❓WHAT HAPPENED:
An interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, has picked up speed unexpectedly as it moves away from the sun and closer to Earth, defying gravitational predictions.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: NASA scientists, Harvard physicist Avi Loeb, and astronomers tracking the object.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The object reached perihelion on October 29, 2025, and is now six weeks away from its closest approach to Earth.
💬KEY QUOTE: “If 3I/ATLAS is not enshrouded in a much more massive gas cloud after perihelion than it had in the months preceding perihelion, then its recent non-gravitational acceleration must have resulted from a different cause than cometary evaporation.” – Avi Loeb
🎯IMPACT: The object’s unexplained movements and composition raise questions about its nature, with some suggesting it could be an extraterrestrial craft.
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IN FULL
The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS has been observed accelerating as it moves away from the sun and closer to Earth, according to NASA. This unexpected speed increase has shifted the object off its predicted path, defying the gravitational forces of the sun, which contains the majority of the solar system’s mass.
3I/ATLAS, initially recorded as the fastest space object entering the solar system at over 130,000 mph, has now reached speeds of around 152,000 mph after its closest approach to the sun on October 29. While NASA attributes the speed boost primarily to the sun’s gravity, the object’s noticeable deviation from its expected trajectory remains unexplained.
Harvard physicist Avi Loeb has pointed out that astronomers have yet to find sufficient evidence of gas emissions from the object, which would typically indicate a cometary nature. “If 3I/ATLAS is not enshrouded in a much more massive gas cloud after perihelion than it had in the months preceding perihelion, then its recent non-gravitational acceleration must have resulted from a different cause than cometary evaporation,” Loeb stated.
The object has exhibited unusual characteristics, including turning blue as it approached the sun, rather than red like typical comets. It also has a massive estimated weight of 33 billion tons, with a composition of nickel and carbon dioxide, unlike the ice and water found in comets formed in our solar system. These anomalies have led some, including Loeb, to theorize that it could be a nuclear-powered ‘mothership’ created by an alien intelligence.
NASA’s latest data shows that the mysterious push on 3I/ATLAS weakened after it passed perihelion, yet it remains detectable. The James Webb Space Telescope is set to observe the object in December to search for any gas cloud that could explain its movements. However, Loeb and others continue to question whether the object’s behavior and composition might point to a non-natural origin.
...Interesting that it will be closest to earth right before Christmas.
Harvard physicist Avi Loeb,
He's prone to seeing aliens everywhere.
Maybe its surfing the solar wave
All Loeb did was propose a scale to judge what an object that displays major anomalies could be. 0 is rock, 10 is a spaceship. Because of all the major anomalies he scored it a 4. And said more data will move it up or down on that scale.
Yet everyone seems to go nuts when someone mentions there is a faint possibility it could be a technological object. Without bothering to check to see what the actual data really is.
It is not a comet, as comets are currently defined. It could be an asteroid as some observations postulate. But the truth is no one actually knows what it is or is not.
The Non-Gravitational Acceleration of 3I is greater than that observed with Oumuamua about which there was never a solution observed. Previous comets that close to the Sun and closer only showed a NGA of 1-10% of which 3I is showing.
Explain all 3I anomalies in a scientific manner please.
It’s GOING AWAY from the Sun!...............
Relax, it’s just my Uber eats from Alpha Centauri.
It’s a dirty snowball with a rock inside...............
Love your science - did you learn that in 1st grade?
“Harvard is the alien mothership.”
Harvard is the advance landing party................
Yes, some really mean kids were throwing snowballs and one little a-hole put a rock inside one..................
On a more serious note, the fact that the object has passed perihelion does not imply that it is also increasing its distance from Earth. If the perihelion takes place in a sector of the solar system opposite from Earth and then the trajectory takes the object at roughly right angles to that point as seen from Earth, it could continue to achieve a closer distance from earth for some time as we move in our orbit closer to its trajectory line (which it has not yet crossed). I have sketched this out below (very roughly it must be admitted) ...
................... o ....................
...................Mars...................
..........................................
..........................ATLAS = = = = = >>>
...........................now.......... (Atlas
..........................................Dec 19)
..........................................
..........................................
........................0.................o
.......................SUN...............o.
........................................o (Earth
......................................o. positions
...................................o... next 3 months
..............................o............
........................o ................
.......................Earth..............
........................(now).............
Bear in mind in my rough diagram, Earth is not all the way around to where I show in three months when Atlas reaches its closest point, it would be more like the second orbital symbol ahead of now ... and also my diagram does not illustrate the actual curved nature of the trajectory of Atlas nor the fact that it may now be curving more to its right heading along. If it continued to curve more to the right than expected you can see where the path is headed.
Also presumably if it is a cometary object its tail will always be pointing away from the Sun whereas if it were moving under its own propulsion it could be expelling material pointed back towards its point of origin.
It was discovered centuries ago that cometary tails always point away from the Sun and bear no relation to the path taken by the comet. The earth passed through the tail of Halley’s comet in the spring of 1910.
“He’s prone to seeing aliens everywhere.”
I understand he’s predicted eight of the last zero alien visits.
Proof of alien intelligence, they rolled up their windows, they locked the doors and sped up to get out of a bad neighborhood......🚀🤘🏽👩🏽🚀👨🏽🚀
ALIENS: “We come in peace.”
EARTHLINGS: Okay, so why the freezer bags?
ALIENS: “Oh, ya know, ya get peckish after a few hundred light years.”
It involves the ‘Three-Body’ problem..............
Yours was a nice comeback to a quite unnecessary rude and snarky comment.
👍
Grok:
3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to Earth at approximately 1.2 AU (about 180 million kilometers or 112 million miles) on January 22, 2026. At that distance, it’ll be visible only through large telescopes (magnitude around 19-20), primarily from the Southern Hemisphere, and poses no visibility threat from the ground.
Impact Risk
No, it will not hit Earth. Its hyperbolic trajectory ensures it stays well outside Earth’s orbit, with a minimum separation far exceeding any collision threshold. NASA’s Sentry system and the Minor Planet Center have calculated a 0% impact probability through at least 2100, based on refined orbital fits from recent observations. It’s safely outbound after perihelion, slingshotting away from the inner solar system.
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