It seems that once a year, space throws a weird space rock at us that is either threatening to obliterate us or, in the case of 3I/ATLAS, exhibits some odd, inexplicable behavior. We are in the fun zone where laboratories across the world are formulating theories based on careful observation, while delightful kooks and cranks are essentially writing new chapters in science fiction novels with each new development.
3I/ATLAS is most likely a comet. And if it is, it behaves unlike any other ever observed. Previous reports indicate that it has been exhibiting unusual behavior, such as glowing, possibly emitting its own light, and changing color.
It’s so weird that Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb is one of the primary sources of some of the more out-there theories, which all revolve around aliens. In his latest theory, which he espoused while speaking to the Sol Foundation, a podcast about unidentified aerial phenomenon, he suggests that if 3I/ATLAS is a “technological object.”
He claims that it could either visit us itself by posting up somewhere around the earth or it could release a series of “mini probes that arrive on earth and appear as [unidentified aerial phenomena].”
Is the Mysterious Comet Heading Toward Us an Alien Ship Sending Out Probes?
As for scientists who don’t seem like they are trying to pitch a premise for a novel, they’re still saying that it is most likely a comet, just a peculiar one. Observations from the Gemini South telescope in Chile show it’s growing a tail, suggesting that it might be exactly what we always thought it was all along.
Loeb’s concern is that with 3I/ATLAS estimated to be up to 28.5 miles wide, it’s a million times more massive than previous interstellar objects we’ve seen, and it’s taking a suspiciously precise route through our solar system.
It’s going to get incredibly close to Mars, just barely skimming it in cosmic terms by getting within 1.6 million miles away from the red planet, which is why Loeb is asking NASA to point its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Juno probe at the object during its flyby next month to determine whether it is or is not an alien artifact.
For now, 3I/ATLAS is just another space mystery to keep an eye on. Whether it’s a ship belonging to an alien race or just another space rock is yet to be determined. But for now, err on the side of Occam’s Razor: the most straightforward answer is likely the best one. In other words, it’s most definitely aliens here to kill us all.
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