A few days ago, astronomers spotted a small comet that entered our solar system. Now, a Harvard astronomer is saying that it’s a chance that the comet is actually not a piece of rock but some sort of alien tech. First observed by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope, the comet was named by the Minor Planet Center as 3I/ATLAS.
In a newly published yet to be peer-reviewed paper, Avi Loeb, a Harvard astronomer who first suggested that Oumuamua, the first interstellar object ever detected, was alien, in partnership with researchers from the UK based Initiative for Interstellar Studies, said that in addition to being alien in origin, 3I/Atlas may belong to a hostile extraterrestrial civilisation.
In a blog post on the popular platform Medium, Loeb said that we will need more observational data to determine if 3I/ATLAS is a comet or an asteroid. He went on to say that the object was “sent towards the inner solar system by design.”
Loeb is an accomplished astronomer, but in the last few years, his statements have made headlines around the world after he claimed that various objects floating around in space might be alien spacecraft. Citing the ”dark forest’ hypothesis, which assumes that the universe is filled with aliens to avoid mutual destruction, Loeb, along with his colleagues Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl, say that 3I/ATLAS might prove that we aren’t the only living creatures in the universe.
“The consequences, should the [dark forest] hypothesis turn out to be correct, could potentially be dire for humanity,” Loeb wrote in his blog post. In another post, the Harvard astronomer said that 3I/ATLAS is likely more than 12 miles in diameter, making it bigger than the obelisk-shaped Oumuamua. In his paper, he also acknowledged that 3I/ATLAS might turn out to be a natural interstellar object, and that he is waiting for astronomical data to see if his theory turns out to be true.
What is 3I/ATLAS?
3I/ATLAS is an interstellar object, meaning it came from outside our solar system. Rocks like these are most ancient and were ejected into space by distant star systems that may no longer exist. Space objects like these often give us useful insights into the building blocks of other planetary systems in space.
While interstellar objects often fly by our solar system, most of them are pretty difficult to spot and study. Compared to previously spotted interstellar objects – 1I/Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, which were discovered in 2017 and 2019, respectively, 3I/ATLAS might be up to 20km long, which means it will be the biggest interstellar object ever recorded.
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When astronomers analysed images captured from the Gemini North telescope, it was noted that 3I/ATLAS has a compact cloud of gas and dust that surrounds its icy core. Some other observations also suggest that 3I/ATLAS might have come from the outer, thicker disk of the Milky Way, and might possibly be the oldest comet ever spotted.
3I/ATLAS will be passing by the Sun at a distance of 210 million km, marking its closest point to our star. Sometime in December, the interstellar object will be 270 million km from Earth, but it won’t pose any danger to our planet.
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