3I/ATLAS UFO

[nivek]

Mysterious interstellar object is morphing in unexplained ways​

The latest image of the mysterious interstellar object racing through our Solar System has revealed it is changing shape and color.

A team of Austrian astronomers captured the object, known as 3I/ATLAS, on September 7, finding its once reddish glow has recently turned green.

Scientists said these changes are unusual and not fully explained by current comet models.

'During the total lunar eclipse, we captured a detailed image of Comet 3I/ATLAS from the dark skies of Namibia,' astronomer Michael Jäger shared.

'By combining multiple exposures in blue, green, and red light, we were able to clearly see the comet's gas-rich coma.'

Data released this week by the ATLAS telescope team also showed that the cloud of light around 3I/ATLAS grew faster when the object was far from the sun and slowed down as it approached.

The team suggested that this change happened because the object shifted from spreading sunlight off red dust on its surface to releasing small, bright icy particles, which made its surrounding plume more reflective.

3I/ATLAS is set to make its closest approach to Earth on December 19, 2025, at a distance of 168 million miles, the same distance between our planet and Mars.

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb shared the Austrian team's developments in his latest blog post, suggesting the transformation from red to green-blue colors was due to the steep rise in the production of cyanide (CN), as reported by the Very Large Telescope on August 25, which found that 3I/ATLAS is emitting CN at 20 grams per second.

As 3I/ATLAS got closer to the sun, it released much more cyanide and nickel (without any iron), with the amount increasing very sharply, roughly following a pattern proportional to the ninth power of its distance from the sun, explained Loeb.

The physicist has suggested that 3I/ATLAS could be an alien probe, citing its massive size, extreme brightness, and missing tail.

(More on the link)

.

 

[nivek]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmMzBEbmZK4


.

 

[nivek]

Landing on Mars?...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NnccpJLxBk


.

 

[nivek]

View: https://youtu.be/QsVWrCkALic?si=jek3hjRCwzTQnYTf


.

 

[The shadow]

20 scientists confirm the possibility that what appears to be comet 3I/ATLAS is a spacecraft camouflaged by its anomalous trajectory and composition 20 scientists confirm the possibility that what appears to be comet 3I/ATLAS is a spacecraft camouflaged by its anomalous trajectory and composition

 

[nivek]

"Major Anomaly" As Interstellar Object 3I/Atlas Measured To Be Over 33 Billion Tons​

A new study has attempted to pin down the properties of interstellar comet 3I/Atlas, finding it is "anomalously massive" at around 33 billion tons.

On July 1, 2025, astronomers spotted an object moving through the Solar System at nearly twice the velocity of previous interstellar visitors ‘Oumuamua and Comet Borisov. The object, which was confirmed to be an interstellar comet with its own dusty coma, and suspected to be far larger than the previous two, with a then-estimated nucleus (the rocky part of the comet, excluding its coma) of around 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles).

Sizing comets is a tricky business, primarily because to do so, you need to distinguish the comet from its coma. As comets approach the Sun in their orbit and heat up, they outgas, losing gas and later (when they are even closer to the Sun) dust, which forms their distinctive trail or coma. This outgassing acts like a thruster, slightly altering the trajectory, rotation, and speed of the comet.

That can complicate measurements, but it can also provide key clues. In a new paper, which has not yet been peer reviewed, from Harvard's Richard Cloete, Avi Loeb, and Peter Vereš, the team looked at data compiled by the Minor Planet Center between May 15 and September 23, 2025, from 227 observatories around the world, and compared the object's trajectory to what we would expect from gravitational acceleration alone (i.e. acceleration caused by the Sun's mass as it approaches closer).

The team's paper found that the non-gravitational acceleration was pretty small, at below 15 meters per day squared. That's pretty tiny, considering that we have already seen significant outgassing by the comet, including using the JWST, with a mass loss rate of around 150 kilograms (330 pounds) per second. To this team crunching the numbers, that suggests that the object's nucleus is massive, resisting change to acceleration as the Sun-facing side outgasses.

The team estimates that the object weighs over 33 billion tons – or 33 trillion kilograms – with a nucleus diameter of 5 kilometers (3.1 miles). This is large for a comet, yes, but at 500 trillion tons, or 5×10 kilograms (500 quadrillion kilograms), C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) still has it beat. But then again, it has the largest comet nucleus ever seen at 128 kilometers (80 miles) across.

So, where is the anomaly? According to Loeb, the mystery is why we haven't spotted many more interstellar objects before we spotted one of this size.

"3I/ATLAS is more massive than the other two interstellar objects, 1I/`Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov by 3–5 orders of magnitude, constituting a major anomaly," Loeb said in a blog post. "Given the limited reservoir of heavy elements, we should have discovered on the order of a hundred thousand interstellar objects on the 0.1-kilometer scale of 1I/`Oumuamua before finding 3I/ATLAS, yet we only detected two interstellar objects previously."

That's certainly intriguing, if the comet is confirmed to be of this size. Loeb, as he is known to do, once again proposed the (highly unlikely) possibility that it may be an alien spacecraft.

"The mass of 3I/ATLAS scales with its diameter cubed. If the nucleus diameter of 3I/ATLAS will be found to be larger than 5 kilometers in the HiRISE image, then an origin associated with the interstellar mass reservoir of rocky material will be untenable," he added. "An alternative technological origin could explain the rare alignment of the trajectory of 3I/ATLAS with the ecliptic plane (having a random chance of 1 in 500, as discussed here), and the detection of nickel without iron — as found in industrially-manufactured alloys."

These claims, as NASA has pointed out, shouldn't be taken too seriously, with Loeb himself calling it a "pedagogical exercise" in his first paper suggesting it.

“It looks like a comet. It does comet things. It very, very strongly resembles, in just about every way, the comets that we know,” Tom Statler, NASA’s lead scientist for Solar System small bodies, told The Guardian, responding to the claims.

“It has some interesting properties that are a little bit different from our solar system comets, but it behaves like a comet. And so the evidence is overwhelmingly pointing to this object being a natural body. It’s a comet.”

Nevertheless, it would be interesting if 3I/Atlas were much more massive than the other spotted interstellar visitors, and this work suggests it could be.

We should be able to get a better look at the object as it approaches, with the potential to observe it using the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on October 3, 2025. Frustratingly, it will be on the other side of the Sun during closest approach and will disappear from view, popping back up again in December.

Additionally, we now have the Vera C. Rubin Observatory up and running. Until 2025, astronomers have found around 20,000 new asteroids per year, but when the observatory began working, it found 2,104 new asteroids in just 10 hours of observations. With more data, and hopefully more interstellar objects to look at, we may be able to place more constraints on this puzzling object, and others like it.

The paper is posted to Harvard's website.

.

 

[nivek]

Mysterious interstellar object may be the source of unexplained signal beamed at Earth 48 years ago​

A mysterious space signal that has never been explained may have come from an equally mysterious object racing through our solar system.

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who has continued to theorize that the object known as 3I/ATLAS could be an alien craft, has said the famous 'WOW! signal' may have come from this fast-moving visitor.

3I/ATLAS was first detected by astronomers this summer and is now only days away from making a close pass by Mars.

Loeb has noted several irregularities in the supposed comet that suggest it could be something that's artificially constructed with a mysterious mission that takes it past three planets in the solar system.

Now, Loeb has drawn a connection between 3I/ATLAS and this unexplained space signal received in 1977.

The WOW! signal was captured by the Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope for 72 seconds, in a burst so unusual that it prompted astronomer Jerry Ehman to write 'WOW!' on the telescope's readout.

Loeb's new analysis has found that on August 12, 1977, just a few days before the WOW! signal was detected, 3I/ATLAS was in a part of the sky very close to where the signal came from.

The chances of two random points in the sky being this close are only about 0.6 percent, which makes this potential connection even more compelling.

3I/ATLAS (pictured) is the third interstellar object discovered by astronomers as it passes through our solar system.

The 'WOW! signal' was received on Earth back in 1977 and scientists have not been able to explain what produced it.

If the signal did come from 3I/ATLAS, Loeb explained that it would have needed a transmitter as powerful as a nuclear power plant on Earth to send it from that distance.

Although astronomers have not found any proof of artificial technology on the surface of the object nearing Earth, Loeb has previously theorized that 3I/ATLAS could be a nuclear-powered vessel.

His claims were based on 3I/ATLAS appearing to generate its own light in a photo by the Hubble Telescope in August.

'3I/ATLAS could be a spacecraft powered by nuclear energy, and the dust emitted from its frontal surface might be from dirt that accumulated on its surface during its interstellar travel,' Loeb wrote in a statement.

Since then, scientists have widely dismissed the alien spacecraft theory, concluding that the interstellar object is a strange comet that's composed of a completely different chemical makeup than most comets created in our solar system.

So far, no one has checked if 3I/ATLAS has been sending out radio signals, but Loeb hopes this coincidence will encourage scientists to take a closer look.

(More on the link)

.

 

[nivek]

NASA goes dark hours before first look at interstellar object moving closer to Earth​

NASA has gone dark just hours before humans get the closest look at the mysterious object barreling through our solar system. The interstellar object dubbed 3I/ATLAS will come within 18 million miles of Mars on October 3, its closest flyby of any planet this year. Two space probes orbiting the Red Planet, Mars Express and ExoMars, are preparing to take Earth's best picture and closest scans of the strange visitor, which scientists have widely concluded is an unusual comet from a distant solar system.

However, when those readings come in, America's space agency may remain completely silent about what the object really is. NASA has announced that its official website will not be updated during the government shutdown, which has resulted in thousands of federal employees being sent home without pay. It's unclear whether NASA staff will make any announcements regarding the object's close pass by Mars, similar to the history-making press conference that revealed the discovery of microbial life on Mars in September. The shutdown couldn't have come at a worse time, as scientists say Friday's flyby could answer many questions about the mysterious comet, including whether it's actually an object of extraterrestrial origin.

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has maintained that 3I/ATLAS has too many confounding characteristics to be a simple comet streaking through the solar system. 'Hopefully, we will learn much more about 3I/ATLAS in the coming days,' Loeb told the Daily Mail on Thursday. The professor added that both Mars Express and ExoMars started their observations of the object on October 1 and will continue studying it until Tuesday, October 7. Loeb noted that he's interested in several of the findings the space probes should be able to compile while in such close range to 3I/ATLAS, adding that the readings could determine once and for all whether it's a comet or an artificial structure.

(More on the link)

.

 

[nivek]

View: https://twitter.com/EzeemmaCraic/status/1975506035830857858


.

 

[pigfarmer]

I heard that this thing not only is an alien spaceship but that Trump has already cut a deal with them so when they land it'll only be in the USA and we'll get their tech.

 

[nivek]

Interstellar Object Is Spraying Something Weird, Scientists Find​

A new analysis of our solar system’s interstellar interloper, 3I/ATLAS, reveal that it’s spewing huge amounts of water — and astronomers can’t immediately explain why.

The object, which is widely believed to be comet, showed strong ultraviolet emissions that are unmistakable telltales of hydroxyl gas (OH), a byproduct of water, when astronomers imaged it with the with NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift space telescope before it disappeared behind the Sun. The emissions could only be spotted from space because the ultraviolet light would get absorbed in the atmosphere.

Their findings, detailed in a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, argue that the presence of all this OH indicates the comet is ejecting water vapor at a torrential rate of about 88 pounds per second — which is around the same rate as a fire hose running at full blast, according to a press release about the findings.

The most extraordinary thing is that this was spotted happening pretty far from the Sun, at a heliocentric distance of about three astronomical units (AU) away, or three times the distance between the Earth and our star. Typically, comets stray much closer to the Sun before the water ice in their core called a nucleus begins to sublimate, or instantly transform from a solid to a gas. Something else must be driving the water dumping in 3I/ATLAS — which also implies, tantalizingly, that the comet must harbor considerable stores of water for this process to keep going.

“When we detect water — or even its faint ultraviolet echo, OH, — from an interstellar comet, we’re reading a note from another planetary system,” coauthor Dennis Bodewits, a professor of physics at Auburn TK, said in the release. “It tells us that the ingredients for life’s chemistry are not unique to our own.”
It’s another example of the fascinating strangeness of interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS. Think of it as a sample of somewhere very far away, perhaps tens of millions of light years away, careening straight past our doorstep. That it’s in many ways bizarre compared to local comets hints at just how unique these unimaginable alien realms must be, and how we have so much more to understand of how star systems form and how their structures may evolve.

Typically, a comet’s coma, a huge halo of gas and dust that give comets their glowing appearance, begin to form as the object nears the Sun — or another star, presumably — and heats up. The heat either sublimates or vaporizes the material in the nucleus at its center, which is many times smaller than the coma that catches our eyes from the ground. While it travels, the coma stretches behind the comet, forming its trademark tail.

3I/ATLAS’s coma has already surprised us in many ways. Its chemistry is strange compared to our own comets, and it appears to have an astonishingly high ratio of carbon dioxide to water.

What’s causing the outpouring of water vapor is still unclear. The astronomers speculate that sunlight might be heating up the ice grains released from the nucleus, which then get vaporized into the surrounding coma.

Astronomers believe that 3I/ATLAS came from the center of the Milky Way, where it was likely booted out of its original star system by a gravitational disturbance like the close flyby of another star, braving interstellar space before eventually cruising through our solar neighborhood. Based on these inferences, astronomers estimated that the comet must be billions of years old, perhaps three billion years older than the Sun itself. It’s not only a snapshot of a different part of the galaxy, but a different era of the cosmos altogether.

Right now, 3I/ATLAS is flying behind the Sun, so we can observed it from Earth. But scientists have been able to catch a glimpse of it using spacecraft stationed near Mars, and it’ll soon swing back into full view in late November.

“Every interstellar comet so far has been a surprise,” said lead author Zexi Xing, a postdoctoral researcher at Auburn University, said in a statement about the work referencing the two previously discovered interstellar objects. “‘Oumuamua was dry, Borisov was rich in carbon monoxide, and now ATLAS is giving up water at a distance where we didn’t expect it.”

“Each one,” Xing added, “is rewriting what we thought we knew about how planets and comets form around stars.”

.

 

[nivek]

Scientists baffled as interstellar visitor appears to reverse thrust before vanishing behind the sun​

Astronomers tracking the mysterious interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS have revealed that the object has performed a dramatic tail reversal, now pointing away from the sun. The change comes just months after Hubble Space Telescope images captured an unusual 'anti-tail,' a jet of particles streaming toward the sun instead of away from it. New high-resolution observations from the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands confirm that the anti-tail seen in July and August 2025 vanished and a new one formed in the opposite direction by September. The shift occurred because the comet's dust and ice particles react differently to sunlight.

Early on, large, slow-moving dust grains scattered light sunward, creating the anti-tail. But as 3I/ATLAS moved closer to the Sun, rising temperatures ejected more ice fragments and longer-lived dust particles, producing the tail that now points away. Ground-based observations will be impossible through October as the object passes behind the Sun, hidden from Earth's view. Researchers at the University of California and the University of Oslo found that 3I/ATLAS is shedding material at a rate proportional to the solar radiation striking its surface.

Meanwhile, NASA's space telescopes previously detected the comet losing about 330 pounds of material per second, made up of 87 percent carbon dioxide and nine percent carbon monoxide. New high-resolution observations from the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands confirm that the anti-tail seen in July and August 2025 transformed into a classic tail by September Harvard professor Avi Loeb and his colleague Eric Keto have developed a model that offers a possible natural explanation for the comet's strange behavior. Their findings suggest that as 3I/ATLAS moves closer to the Sun, different types of ice on its surface sublimate, turning directly from solid to gas.

Farther from the sun, about 279 million to 372 million miles away, CO2 ice drives the unusual sunward jets. But as the comet gets nearer, water ice begins to dominate, changing how material is released and causing the tail to flip into the classic shape now observed. Loeb shared the study in a Wednesday blog post, writing: 'The total amount of mass lost from 3I/ATLAS during July through October 2025 amounts to about two million tons. 'This is less than 0.00005 of the comet's total mass, which is estimated at over 33 billion tons based on its stable trajectory.'

The gas cloud surrounding 3I/ATLAS could be produced by stripping away only a 1.6-inch-thick surface layer from a 3.1-mile-wide object, a ratio similar to the length of your palm compared to the length of Manhattan Island. 'Needless to say, we cannot infer the true nature of 3I/ATLAS from the skin layer it has shed so far,' Loeb added. 'My colleague, Adam Hibberd, noted that if the object were an alien spacecraft slowing down, and the anti-tail represented braking thrust, this shift from anti-tail to tail would be entirely expected near perihelion.'

Unlike the first interstellar object, 1I/`Oumuamua, which showed no signs of gas or dust, and the second, 2I/Borisov, which behaved like a typical comet, 3I/ATLAS (pictured) exhibits unique features, including the anti-tail, extreme color changes and a massive coma However, NASA and most scientists maintain that 3I/ATLAS is a natural comet, though one that originated outside our solar system. Unlike the first interstellar visitor ʻOumuamua, which showed no signs of gas or dust, and the second, 2I/Borisov, which behaved like a normal comet, 3I/ATLAS displays unique features, including its anti-tail, extreme color changes, and a massive surrounding coma.

'As the surface of 3I/ATLAS is exposed to at least 33 gigawatts of solar radiation at perihelion, observations during its closest approach to Earth on December 19, 2025, will offer the most important clues about its nature,' Loeb said. 'If it continues to show all the features of a natural comet, that will confirm its origin.' The Harvard professor issued a chilling warning as the object was set to move behind the sun on Tuesday. The object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, will be exactly on the opposite side of the sun relative to Earth, constituting a so-called `solar conjunction,' tomorrow, which Avi Loeb said would be 'an opportune time for technological action.'

Loeb explained that in space travel, the best time to speed up or slow down a spacecraft is when it's closest to a large object, since firing the engine at that point, known as the Oberth effect, gives the biggest change in speed. 'If 3I/ATLAS is a massive mothership, it will likely continue along its original gravitational path and ultimately exit the Solar system,' the professor shared in a Sunday blog post. 'In that case, the Oberth maneuver might apply to the mini-probes it releases at perihelion towards Solar system planets.'

3I/ATLAS will reach its best window for such Oberth maneuvers just eight days after it slips behind the sun, which will put it the closest to the sun at about 126 million miles away, he added. While Loeb has floated the idea that 3I/ATLAS could be of extraterrestrial origin, NASA has long maintained that the object is simply a comet from a distant galaxy.

.

 

[pigfarmer]

Interstellar Object Could Be Mysterious ‘Wow!’ Signal Source—Astronomer

Published
Oct 08, 2025 at 11:42 AM EDT

By Jordan King
US News Reporter
Policies and Standards
The mystery behind the famous 1977 “Wow!” signal has gained renewed attention after a Harvard astronomer proposed that the newly observed interstellar object 3I/ATLAS may be linked to the event.
The Wow! signal, captured on August 15, 1977, by Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope, has long fascinated scientists as a potential indicator of extraterrestrial intelligence.
Astronomer Avi Loeb argued in a September blog that the signal, which has not been spotted in the 48 years since it was discovered, could have been coming from 3I/ATLAS—an interstellar object first spotted on July 1 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile.
Newsweek has contacted NASA for comment via email.

Why It Matters​

“Its direction on the sky was separated by merely 9 degrees from those of the Wow! signal,” he added. “The chance of two random directions in the sky being aligned to that level is about 0.6 percent.”
Despite decades of analysis, the Wow! signal’s origin remains a mystery, fueling both mainstream scientific inquiry and public speculation.
Read More

Linking the signal to an interstellar object passing near our solar system could transform understanding of both the signal and the nature of interstellar objects, highlighting the value of vigilant monitoring and interdisciplinary research in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

This image of the comet 3I/ATLAS, provided by NASA/European Space Agency, was captured by Hubble on July 21, when the interstellar object was 277 mill...Read More | AP

What To Know​

After the ATLAS telescope detected 3I/ATLAS in Chile on July 1, NASA classified the interstellar object as a comet.
Estimates place the comet’s nucleus at up to 3.5 miles in diameter, with a speed approaching 137,000 miles per hour, according to NASA, and it follows a hyperbolic trajectory that confirms its origin from outside the solar system.
It poses no threat to Earth, passing no closer than 1.8 astronomical units (about 170 million miles), NASA says.
Scientists have long been fascinated by the object’s peculiar speed and composition.
“The reason I suggested this hypothesis is to encourage radio observers to search for radio emission from 3I/ATLAS,” Loeb told Newsweek. “If it is a comet of natural origin, no radio signal is expected at 1420 megahertz.”
“Any detection would suggest that 3I/ATLAS is alien technology, potentially explaining some of its anomalies, such as its unusually large mass, its alignment with the ecliptic plane of the planets and the glowing jet that it exhibited toward the Sun,” he said, adding, “So far, there was no report on radio observations of 3I/ATLAS.”
Loeb went on to explain why he came to his theory.
“On August 12, 1977, the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS was at a distance of about 600 times the Earth-Sun separation (AU)—corresponding to a light-travel time of about three days,” he said.
“The Wow! signal was observed at a frequency that was blue-shifted by about 10 kilometers per second toward the Sun relative to the central frequency of the hydrogen line,” Loeb continued. “This blueshift is of the same order of magnitude but smaller than expected from the approach velocity of 3I/ATLAS toward the Sun.”

What Is the Wow! Signal?​

“The Wow! signal was a strong narrowband radio signal at a frequency of 1420 megahertz detected on August 15, 1977, by Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope. Its enigmatic origin was inferred to be extraterrestrial,” Loeb said.
It was called the Wow! signal because astronomer Jerry Ehman wrote “Wow!” in red pen in his notes when he spotted the radio band fluctuation.

What Is the 3I/ATLAS?​

NASA wrote on its website: “Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third known object from outside our solar system to be discovered passing through our celestial neighborhood. Astronomers have categorized this object as interstellar because of the hyperbolic shape of its orbital path. (It does not follow a closed orbital path about the Sun.) When the orbit of 3I/ATLAS is traced into the past, the comet clearly originates from outside our solar system.
“Comet 3I/ATLAS poses no threat to Earth and will remain far away. The closest it will approach our planet is about 1.8 astronomical units (about 170 million miles, or 270 million kilometers). 3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to the Sun around Oct. 30, 2025, at a distance of about 1.4 au (130 million miles, or 210 million kilometers)—just inside the orbit of Mars.”

What People Are Saying​

Harvard Astronomer Avi Loeb wrote in a blog on September 28: “This raises a broader question: in case we detect an artificial signal from an interstellar object, how should we engage with it?
“The details would depend on the properties of the object. To measure these properties, we should attempt to use all telescopes on Earth and in space.”

What Happens Next​

As radio astronomers and planetary scientists gather more data, Loeb hopes researchers will test his hypothesis and further probe the origins of the Wow! signal, as well as the composition and trajectory of 3I/ATLAS.
The Wow! signal continues to inspire investigations and debate. If future observations detect telltale radio emissions from 3I/ATLAS, the finding could become a pivotal moment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

 

[nivek]

Scientists reveal all the strange behaviors of interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS that deepen the mystery of its origins​

The interstellar object traveling through our solar system has just made its most startling move yet, appearing to reverse thrust as it disappeared behind our sun. It's the latest in a growing list of puzzling clues that some scientists have claimed prove that the object dubbed 3I/ATLAS is not just an ordinary comet from a distant solar system. Harvard physicist Avi Loeb has been among the leading voices maintaining that there is enough evidence to say 3I/ATLAS has shown signs of being guided by an unknown intelligence. The next clue could emerge on October 29, when the object is projected to reach its closest point to the sun. Loeb told the Daily Mail that if 3I/ATLAS comes out of this blind spot in a completely different place than gravity was taking it, it would be a clear sign the object was artificial and likely powered by some kind of engine.

Most astronomers have been reluctant to consider the possibility of an extraterrestrial origin, noting that the space rock has shown the classic signs of being a comet, including having a tail and a coma, a large cloud of gas and dust surrounding it. Previous studies throughout the summer have concluded that 3I/ATLAS's strange chemical makeup, rich in carbon dioxide gas, is merely a result of forming in a solar system completely foreign to our own. However, Loeb contends that those in the scientific community who have dismissed the more extraordinary possibilities are more concerned with being right and avoiding criticism than alerting the public to a potentially world-changing event.

In August, the Two-Meter Twin Telescope in the Canary Islands captured an image showing a faint jet extending roughly 3.7 miles from the object's nucleus, pointing toward the sun 'Here we are talking about a potential for something that could affect humanity in the future in a dramatic way, and so you shouldn't apply the same approach of being as conservative as possible,' Loeb explained. 'I don't want to be their therapist, but they're trying to obviously protect their reputation, not take risks, and also pretend that they know the answer in advance,' he added. Daily Mail reached out to several scientists who have been studying the alleged comet, but did not receive a response to our request to comment on the latest findings.

A study in August detected an unusual nickel plume from the object. Unlike natural comets, which always emit nickel alongside iron, 3I/ATLAS showed the metallic element without any detectable iron. The new study, published by astrophysicists in Chile, found that 3I/ATLAS is shedding nickel at roughly five grams per second and cyanide at 20 grams per second, with both rising sharply as the object moves closer to the sun. Researchers noted that the mechanisms driving these emissions are not typical of natural cometary processes. Scans of 3I/ATLAS, released the same month, suggested it is likely an unusual comet that's much smaller than it previously appeared and is unexpectedly releasing loads of carbon dioxide gas (CO2). The large amount of CO2 pouring out, about 940 trillion molecules per second, was a major finding, suggesting 3I/ATLAS formed in a star system that doesn't look anything like ours, where comets are much different than the ones we see orbiting our sun.

Based on all the light coming from 3I/ATLAS, scientists originally suspected the object was more than 12 miles in diameter/ However, NASA's most powerful telescopes have cut that estimate down to 1.7 miles. The comet seemed larger because over 99 percent of the light observed came from a large, bright cloud of dust and gas surrounding it, called a coma. 3I/ATLAS is currently about 298 million miles from Earth. Not only is the interstellar object much smaller, but a new study by NASA's SPHEREx telescope discovered that 3I/ATLAS is releasing a large amount of CO2 and is covered in water ice. This month, NASA's Perseverance rover on the Martian surface sent back photos of the object, showing what appears to be a massive cylindrical shape.

Stargazers on social media shared color-enhanced images of the object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, which showed the interstellar visitor having a green glow as it passed Mars and heads closer to the sun. Loeb analyzed the Perseverance rover's photos by calculating its distance, speed, and camera settings. According to his initial study, Loeb was not convinced that 3I/ATLAS is actually a massive cylindrical object, noting that the strange shape might have been a trick of the rover's camera stretching out its shape. He explained that the apparent cylinder from the rover's 'Navcam' was likely caused by the camera stacking hundreds of images of 3I/ATLAS over a period of about 10 minutes, making it look more like a log than a ball. The professor added that 3I/ATLAS is likely smaller and rounder, but still massive, with a potential diameter of more than 28 miles across.

More than five studies, with dozens of researchers involved, have concluded that the object is just a unique, natural comet, which many other scientists have been echoing for months. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and astrophysicist working at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, previously claimed: 'It is clearly a natural comet; suggestions to the contrary are laughed at by people who are actual comet experts.' UCLA research David Jewitt recently agreed with the comet theory, publishing a paper that explained the object's shifting tail as it moved behind the sun as normal cometary behavior.

An international team of researchers also concluded that the increasing dust activity around 3I/ATLAS, its changing color, and apparent lack of a tail were due to our perspective from Earth at the time of the scans, not the comet acting strangely. First spotted on July 1, 3I/ATLAS is just the third recorded object to travel through our solar system from another point in the Milky Way galaxy. The other two, Oumuamua in 2017 and the comet Borisov in 2019, were nowhere near the size and mass of 3I/ATLAS, which Loeb has calculated to be at least 3.1 miles long and 33 billion tons.

Loeb explained that the object's size is yet another clue that it may not be a comet, as there isn't enough rocky material in interstellar space to have created such a structure naturally. 'It's bigger than the asteroid that killed a dinosaur 66 million years ago, and such objects are extremely rare. It would have been on the order of 10 million times more massive than Oumuamua and 10,000 times more massive than Borisov,' Loeb revealed. However, the scientist said his first clue that something wasn't adding up with 3I/ATLAS was the sheer brightness of the object while it was still far away from our planet and the sun.

The supposed comet's backward 'anti-tail,' its strange course taking it close to three planets, and its unique chemical combination of nickel and carbon dioxide have all contributed to a growing belief that 3I/ATLAS is not a floating space rock. Loeb noted that one oddity would be explainable, but he calculated that there were no fewer than eight anomalies with this space rock. The scientist calculated that the odds of these strange occurrences happening at the same time were one in 10,000,000,000,000,000 (that's 10quadrillion).

Despite not being projected to collide with the planet, NASA took the extraordinary step of adding 3I/ATLAS to the list of threats tracked by a United Nations-endorsed group focused on planetary defense against near-Earth objects. The decision has helped to mobilize all of the world's telescopes to observe the interstellar visitor, with 227 observatories already tracking it. Loeb noted that 3I/ATLAS will make its closest approach to Earth on December 19 and NASA is planning to take even more detailed readings of the object as it approaches the Juno spacecraft near Jupiter on March 16, 2026. 'We should not miss an opportunity, because this is a gift from interstellar space,' the Harvard professor explained. Loeb concluded by saying the arrival of 3I/ATLAS and the recent visit of Oumuamua just eight years ago cannot be dismissed as random events in the cosmos. 'What nature is trying to tell us is that we don't understand something.'

.

 

[nivek]

Interstellar visitor reappears from the sun's shadow with baffling glow unlike natural comets​

A mysterious interstellar visitor has emerged from behind the sun, glowing in a way that has left scientists stunned. The comet, which is not visible from terrestrial telescopes, appears to have unusual chemistry. It passed through solar conjunction with Earth - meaning it was hidden behind the sun - on October 21. It is exciting for scientists because, unlike other comets, it does not orbit the sun.

The object, named as 3I/ATLAS, made its closest approach to it on Wednesday, observed by three NASA spacecraft. Data showed that it brightened at a rate about seven times faster than typical comets as it reached the sun. Researchers who captured the observations noted: 'The reason for 3I/ATLAS's rapid brightening, which far exceeds the brightening rate of most Oort cloud comets at similar distances from the sun, remains unclear.' Even more puzzling, the comet now appears distinctly bluer, a reversal from its previously reddish hue.

Scientists speculate that the blue glow likely comes from gas emissions, including carbon molecules (C2) and other compounds, rather than just sunlight reflecting off dust. The study, conducted by researchers from the Lowell Observatory in Arizona and the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, pulled data from the STEREO‑A (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) and SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory). They also used a weather satellite, called GOES‑19, carrying a coronagraph, a device which helped capture the comet's brightness and color while it was hidden behind the Sun from Earth-based telescopes.

It detected a glowing plume extending nearly 186,000 miles around the object, comparable to the carbon dioxide halo observed months earlier. The satellite revealed that 3I/ATLAS is enveloped in a huge, fuzzy coma, roughly half as wide as the full moon.

(More on the link)

.

 

[nivek]

Interstellar visitor proves Einstein's theory before making an unexplained shift in its path​

The interstellar object that continues to baffle scientists has just confirmed one of Albert Einstein's theories, more than a century after it was proposed. Scans of 3I/ATLAS as it reached its closest point to the sun have found that our home star's gravity bent the light coming from the mysterious object, just as Einstein predicted in 1915 in his theory of general relativity. This effect, known as gravitational lensing, was caused by a slight shift in the object's apparent position in the sky, which scientists had predicted last month would be approximately 0.27 arcseconds —a remarkably small displacement that can only be observed with powerful telescopes.

However, 3I/ATLAS showed even more of a shift than scientists could have imagined, straying four arcseconds from its expected path past the sun. One arcsecond is equal to 1/3600 of a degree, or like viewing a dime from 2.5 miles away. While the mystery object, which many scientists have dismissed as a comet, may have proven Einstein's theory about gravity bending light, its new unexplained location in the sky adds to the possibility that 3I/ATLAS is no ordinary space rock.

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb revealed that the supposed comet would have needed to release a huge amount of its mass in the form of a powerful gas jet to push 3I/ATLAS to its current location in our solar system. If it's really a comet, this would have left behind a massive cloud of gas and dust, but if it didn't, then the claims of 3I/ATLAS being an artificial spacecraft will be one step closer to being proven true.

Loeb explained that for scientists to be right about 3I/ATLAS being a comet, the sun would have needed to melt away roughly 15 percent of the object's mass. That's about five billion tons worth of gas pouring out of 3I/ATLAS as it reached perihelion, its closest point to the sun, on October 29. The cloud of dust this outpouring would have created would be visible by telescopes as the object nears its closest point to Earth on December 19.

However, if there is no giant dust cloud for astronomers to see, Loeb called it the tenth clue that 3I/ATLAS was constructed by extraterrestrials and sent to this solar system for an unknown purpose. The latest hint that there was something unusual about the interstellar visitor came as the object reached its perihelion with the sun and suddenly pulled away and changed color.

'Observations of 3I/ATLAS close to perihelion by the solar observatories STEREO, SOHO and GOES-19, revealed unprecedented brightening and a color bluer than the sun,' Loeb wrote in a paper released Sunday.

This discovery was incredibly strange because comets turn red as their cold surfaces absorb blue light and bounce back mostly red light, just like a cold piece of metal glows red when you start heating it. Meanwhile, this 'non-gravitational acceleration' 3I/ATLAS experienced could not be explained by gravity, so something else appeared to be speeding it up and nudging it off its expected path, which could be a sign the object has its own engine.

Loeb also broke down the odds of the other strange clues surrounding the interstellar visitor, including its almost perfectly flat course, which takes it within close range of three different planets in our solar system. The professor explained that the chance of a natural object traveling along the same plane in space as the Earth and its neighboring planets was only 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, there was only a 1-in-20,000 chance of a natural comet making close fly-bys over Mars, Venus, and Jupiter, pointing to the possibility that this path has been guided by an unknown intelligence. Scans of 3I/ATLAS have also revealed far more nickel and much less iron than astronomers have found in all other comets before this one. The object's nickel coating is similar to how humans use the metal as a protective layer against the extreme heat of rocket engines on Earth spacecraft.

3I/ATLAS was also seen projecting an unusual 'anti-tail' which pointed at the sun instead of trailing behind the object like a normal comet. As scientists wait to see if the alleged comet really lost a giant portion of its mass last week, Loeb noted that 3I/ATLAS was unexplainably larger and moving faster than previous interstellar objects detected by humans. At 33 billion tons, it's a million times larger than the mysterious Oumuamua, which passed through the solar system in 2017, and about a thousand times bigger than the comet Borisov, which passed Earth two years later.

The odds of a natural space rock from a distant solar system being that large and moving at its current speed of 151,800mph were estimated at 1-in-1,000. Loeb also noted that 3I/ATLAS only appears to contain four percent water, unlike normal comets, which mostly consist of water ice. It's also reflecting light in a strange way that made it get much brighter as it neared the sun, and did so approximately 7.5 times faster than normal comets.

.

 

[nivek]

3i/Atlas sparks questions as NASA withholds new images — what’s really happening?​

In this NASA handout, NASA astronauts Anne McClain, right, and Nichole Ayers gesture to friends and family as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A on NASA's Kennedy Space Center to board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for the Crew-10 mission launch, on March 14, 2025, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 mission is the tenth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. McClain, Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, are scheduled to launch at 7:03 p.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39A at the NASA's Kennedy Space Center. (Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/NASA via Getty Images)

3i/Atlas has turned a rare science moment into a noisy argument about transparency and signals. 3i/Atlas is only the third confirmed interstellar visitor, and the public is hungry for every new frame. NASA and ESA assets have collected real data already. Hubble captured a dust coma in July. JWST took spectra that highlight carbon dioxide. Mars orbiters even tried a side-on look as 3i/Atlas swept past the Red Planet.

At the same time, a viral storyline says images are being withheld and hints at radio pulses. Harvard’s Avi Loeb asked NASA to release Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pictures he says were taken on October 2 and 3. He argues that a communications freeze during a funding lapse should not block timely science.

Are NASA images of 3i/Atlas being withheld? The data that exists and why some releases lag

ESA has already shown a faint detection from Mars orbit. ExoMars CaSSIS imaged 3i/Atlas near closest approach to Mars, and Mars Express attempted supporting views. ESA described the target as extremely faint and the observation as hard. ESA instrument scientist Nick Thomas, as per the ESA report dated October 7, 2025, said, “This was a very challenging observation for the instrument. The comet is around 10 000 to 100 000 times fainter than our usual target.”

Loeb says NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera also imaged 3i/Atlas on October 2 to 3, and that the pictures were not posted for weeks. He published a public request that NASA release them. Loeb stated, as per a Medium post dated November 1, 2025,

“We should not hold science hostage to the shutdown politics of the day,...Joe Rogan suggested that I contact the interim NASA administrator, Sean Duffy.”
NASA has not issued a counter-statement naming specific files, and the agency’s science pages displayed a funding-lapse notice that paused normal updates. As per the NASA Science report dated October 1, 2025, NASA stated, “There has been a lapse in funding … civil servant points of contact … will be unable to respond.”

Geometry also limited views from Earth during perihelion, since 3i/Atlas was near the Sun from our line of sight. These factors explain most of the lag, even as pressure for faster releases grows.

What 3i/Atlas is and is not, the verified science so far?

Hubble’s July image shows a teardrop-shaped dust coma around an icy nucleus. That is classic comet behavior, and it matches expectations for a volatile body heating up. NASA’s comet page also notes the perihelion timing near October 30 and stresses that the object is not a threat to Earth. NASA stated, as per the NASA Science report dated August 25, 2025,

“While the comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA’s space telescopes help support the agency's ongoing mission to find, track, and better understand solar system objects.”
JWST spectra taken before perihelion indicate a carbon-dioxide-dominated gas coma, which helps model mass loss and size. The JWST team wrote, as per the NASA Goddard report dated September 22, 2025, “The coma of 3I/ATLAS is very CO2 rich.”

Independent spectroscopy from ESO’s Very Large Telescope reported neutral nickel lines and weak iron in some bands. That chemistry is surprising, but it is not unique in comet studies. None of these measurements confirms any radio pulses or artificial signals. SETI Institute guidance remains clear that interstellar does not mean mysterious signals by default.

This is the core picture today. 3i/Atlas looks like an active comet from another star system. The composition has oddities that scientists can probe with more spectra and imaging. The orbital path is hyperbolic, so the object will exit the Solar System after passing the Sun. Perihelion near Mars’s orbit and the Sun-glare geometry created a natural gap in ground observations, which is normal.

Harvard warnings vs consensus: What will settle the 3i/Atlas debate next

Loeb has argued that early dynamics showed “first evidence” of a non-gravitational acceleration around perihelion. He has also urged the rapid release of Mars-side images and suggested specific tests for unusual behaviour. Those views are hypotheses. A separate pre-perihelion fit by Cloete, Loeb, and Vereš set a strict upper limit on any non-gravitational acceleration through late September. That is consistent with ordinary outgassing that was too small to detect then. The key question is what post-conjunction fits will show once new astrometry arrives.

A coordinated campaign now gives observers that chance. The International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) has opened a focused astrometry effort for 3i/Atlas from November 27, 2025, to January 27, 2026. This will pool precise positions from many telescopes so dynamical models can lock down any extra forces. NASA, Hubble, JWST, and Mars assets are also slated for additional looks as 3i/Atlas emerges from conjunction.

Stay tuned for more updates.

.

 

[nivek]

NASA detects unexpected boost in interstellar visitor's speed as it nears Earth​

The interstellar object racing through our solar system has been caught unexpectedly picking up speed as it moves away from the sun and closer toward Earth.

NASA has confirmed a small extra 'kick' moving the mysterious visitor dubbed 3I/ATLAS off its predicted path, which can't be explained by the sun's gravity.

The sun contains almost all of the solar system’s mass, meaning its weight pulls all the planets together in a predictable motion scientists can measure, but these new movements by 3I/ATLAS appear to defy our laws of gravity.

The object, which many scientists claim is a comet, set a record as the fastest space rock entering the solar system ever detected by humans at more than 130,000mph.

After reaching its closest point to the sun on October 29, known as perihelion, its speed has now soared to approximately 152,000mph.

While NASA believes the sun's gravity is mainly responsible for the speed boost, scientists are having a harder time figuring out what has caused 3I/ATLAS to noticeably shift away from our home star.

If it were an ordinary comet, the heat of the sun would be causing the icy cold space rock to melt and shoot out jets of gas trapped inside, potentially pushing the comet in a different direction.

However, Harvard physicist Avi Loeb has revealed that astronomers are still awaiting evidence that 3I/ATLAS has released anywhere close to enough gas to prove the object is really a comet.

(More on the link)

.

 

[nivek]

Alien spaceship? Latest 3I/ATLAS image shows lack of tail​

The buzz around interstellar object 3I/ATLAS—hypothesized by some to be anything from an exotic comet to a piece of alien technology—is likely to take another unpredictable turn, with a new image taken post-perihelion showing that the object lacks a prominent cometary tail, something that should have been visible following its recent trip around the sun.

Since its discovery, the true nature 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar visitor to our Solar System, has been a topic of immense speculation. Despite assurances from NASA and other space agencies that 3I/ATLAS was a mere comet visiting from another star system, many weren't convinced, in part due to the object behaving in a manner that defied conventional cometary models.

As speculation continued to mount amid high-profile media coverage, scientists had hoped to lay the buzz to rest with images from 3I/ATLAS' trip around the sun. That, however, is unlikely to allay concerns, with the freshly released image fuelling further confusion. If 3I/ATLAS were indeed a comet, its trip around the Sun in late October and the consequent solar heating should have triggered significant sublimation, turning ice to gas to create a massive, luminous cloud of gas and dust or a 'tail', which are typical for comets. Had there been visual confirmation of said tail, it would probably have laid to rest a large chunk of the speculation.

However, now, with the image showing the lack of a prominent tail, speculation about 3I/ATLAS being an alien spacecraft has picked up again. As the image was released by the R Naves Observatory, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb jumped on the observations, questioning earlier claims by NASA about 3I/ATLAS being a comet.

Pointing out that earlier data had showed 3I/ATLAS was experiencing non-gravitational acceleration (that is, its movement was being influenced by some force other than the Sun's gravity), Loeb pointed out that this should have been explained by a prominent tail. Typically, non-gravitational acceleration in celestial bodies like comets is attributed to the 'rocket effect' of outgassing, wherein in a comet's ice vaporizes from solar heat, and creates a jet of gas that pushes the nucleus of the comet like small engine.

If this were indeed the reason behind 3I/ATLAS' non-gravitational acceleration, then it should have been visible in a prominent tail, Loeb claimed, explaining that 3I/ATLAS would have needed to shed at least 13% of its mass in vaporized material to explain the data, which, in turn, would have resulted in a prominent, visible tail. With that tail now evidently absent, Loeb added it to the list of 'anomalies' that have thus far been observed.

Loeb noted that not only was 3I/ATLAS gigantically massive—far bigger than earlier interstellar visitors like 'Oumuamua and Comet Borisov—but was travelling at speeds far exceeding those of earlier interstellar visitors. He also noted that 3I/ATLAS' trajectory appeared to be fine-tuned to bring it close to multiple planets, while obscuring it from Earth's view during perihelion. He also added that 3I/ATLAS' vapour plume, instead of being made mostly of water ice, was observed to be dominated by exotic materials, with its nickel-to-iron ratio being resembling industrial alloys more than space debris.

So, is 3I/ATLAS a comet, an alien spacecraft, or something else beyond our current comprehension? The jury is still out.

.

 

[pigfarmer]

Alien spaceship? Latest 3I/ATLAS image shows lack of tail​

The buzz around interstellar object 3I/ATLAS—hypothesized by some to be anything from an exotic comet to a piece of alien technology—is likely to take another unpredictable turn, with a new image taken post-perihelion showing that the object lacks a prominent cometary tail, something that should have been visible following its recent trip around the sun.

Since its discovery, the true nature 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar visitor to our Solar System, has been a topic of immense speculation. Despite assurances from NASA and other space agencies that 3I/ATLAS was a mere comet visiting from another star system, many weren't convinced, in part due to the object behaving in a manner that defied conventional cometary models.

As speculation continued to mount amid high-profile media coverage, scientists had hoped to lay the buzz to rest with images from 3I/ATLAS' trip around the sun. That, however, is unlikely to allay concerns, with the freshly released image fuelling further confusion. If 3I/ATLAS were indeed a comet, its trip around the Sun in late October and the consequent solar heating should have triggered significant sublimation, turning ice to gas to create a massive, luminous cloud of gas and dust or a 'tail', which are typical for comets. Had there been visual confirmation of said tail, it would probably have laid to rest a large chunk of the speculation.

However, now, with the image showing the lack of a prominent tail, speculation about 3I/ATLAS being an alien spacecraft has picked up again. As the image was released by the R Naves Observatory, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb jumped on the observations, questioning earlier claims by NASA about 3I/ATLAS being a comet.

Pointing out that earlier data had showed 3I/ATLAS was experiencing non-gravitational acceleration (that is, its movement was being influenced by some force other than the Sun's gravity), Loeb pointed out that this should have been explained by a prominent tail. Typically, non-gravitational acceleration in celestial bodies like comets is attributed to the 'rocket effect' of outgassing, wherein in a comet's ice vaporizes from solar heat, and creates a jet of gas that pushes the nucleus of the comet like small engine.

If this were indeed the reason behind 3I/ATLAS' non-gravitational acceleration, then it should have been visible in a prominent tail, Loeb claimed, explaining that 3I/ATLAS would have needed to shed at least 13% of its mass in vaporized material to explain the data, which, in turn, would have resulted in a prominent, visible tail. With that tail now evidently absent, Loeb added it to the list of 'anomalies' that have thus far been observed.

Loeb noted that not only was 3I/ATLAS gigantically massive—far bigger than earlier interstellar visitors like 'Oumuamua and Comet Borisov—but was travelling at speeds far exceeding those of earlier interstellar visitors. He also noted that 3I/ATLAS' trajectory appeared to be fine-tuned to bring it close to multiple planets, while obscuring it from Earth's view during perihelion. He also added that 3I/ATLAS' vapour plume, instead of being made mostly of water ice, was observed to be dominated by exotic materials, with its nickel-to-iron ratio being resembling industrial alloys more than space debris.

So, is 3I/ATLAS a comet, an alien spacecraft, or something else beyond our current comprehension? The jury is still out.

.