{"id":218295,"date":"2025-09-11T13:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T13:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/218295\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T13:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T13:50:11","slug":"interstellar-overhype-nasa-debunks-claim-about-alien-made-comet-comets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/218295\/","title":{"rendered":"Interstellar overhype: Nasa debunks claim about alien-made comet | Comets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Skywatchers at Nasa<\/a> have discounted a Harvard astronomer\u2019s hypothesis that a rare interstellar object hurtling through our solar system is a relic from a civilization in another celestial neighborhood, and \u201ccould potentially be dire for humanity\u201d.<\/p>\n

Avi Loeb, head of Harvard University\u2019s Galileo Project<\/a>, which searches for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, raised eyebrows by suggesting in a scientific paper<\/a> in July that Comet 3I\/Atlas<\/a>, set for a close pass with Mars next month, could be artificially made.<\/p>\n

It is only the third known object originating outside the solar system to pass through and was named for the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (Atlas) survey telescope in R\u00edo Hurtado, Chile, that discovered it<\/a> on 1 July.<\/p>\n

Loeb says observations of the object so far have not revealed gaseous tails of dust and plasma common to comets originating inside the solar system, and have shown it following an unorthodox trajectory, suggesting \u201ca technological artifact\u201d with \u201cactive intelligence\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201c[If] future data will indicate the absence of a cometary tail, we will be faced with the tantalizing possibility that it did not inherit a random velocity in interstellar space but instead was sent towards the inner solar system by design,\u201d Loeb wrote in a blogpost<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even more sinister, Loeb asserts in his paper, is the possibility of the object performing a clandestine deep space maneuver while it is hidden behind the sun in late October, then setting course for a \u201cmalign intent\u201d rendezvous with Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consequences, should the hypothesis turn out to be correct, could potentially be dire for humanity, and would possibly require defensive measures to be undertaken, though these might prove futile,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Loeb\u2019s postulation, to which he admits he does not necessarily subscribe, but which he contends is at least worthy of analysis, failed to impress experts at Nasa<\/a>. The space agency has been studying the object closely through ground and space telescopes since it was first spotted, and state categorically it poses no threat to Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like a comet. It does comet things. It very, very strongly resembles, in just about every way, the comets that we know,\u201d said Tom Statler, Nasa\u2019s lead scientist for solar system small bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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\u2019s a comet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imagery from the Hubble space telescope<\/a> suggests it is up to 3.5 miles (5.6km) wide, and traveling at 130,000mph (209,000km\/h), the highest velocity ever recorded for a visitor to the solar system.<\/p>\n

Statler said all comets, not just those that are interstellar, exhibit some elements of anomaly.<\/p>\n

\u201cComets are mixtures of dust and ice, they\u2019re being heated by the sun, that heating is changing, and exactly how they respond to that is something that\u2019s a bit unpredictable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo even in our solar system, comets can have a history of suddenly brightening if there\u2019s, say, a particular pocket of ice that sublimates quickly and drives off a large amount of dust.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the sort of thing that our comet observers and experts are prepared for, and presents an opportunity to get more information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statler said the object would not come closer to Earth than about 170m miles due to the positions of the planets over the next few months. It will make close passes with Mars, Jupiter and Venus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s special because we now have the ability to discover these interstellar comets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that they\u2019re really anything new, but we\u2019ve just recently had the ability to discover them, and we\u2019ve discovered only three so far. This gives us a window we\u2019ve never had before, directly into the composition of other solar systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loeb, meanwhile, acknowledged in his blogpost that \u201cthe simplest hypothesis is that 3I\/ATLAS is a comet\u201d, and that he was raising alternative possibilities as an exercise in challenging preconceived ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us instead maintain our childhood curiosity and seek evidence rather than pretend to be the adults in the room that know the answers in advance,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hypothesis is an interesting exercise in its own right, and is fun to pursue, irrespective of its likely validity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Skywatchers at Nasa have discounted a Harvard astronomer\u2019s hypothesis that a rare interstellar object hurtling through our solar…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":218296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-218295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115185990289991603","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}