The ATLAS theories are all over the map.<\/p>\n
With 3I\/ATLAS slated to fly-by Earth tomorrow, theories over its nature have hit a fever pitch. A new study asserts that our interstellar visitor behaves like other comets in our solar system \u2014 a theory Harvard scientist Avi Loeb labeled a non-argument that ignores its many \u201canomalies.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the study, published in Research Notes of the AAS<\/a>, lead author Thomas Marshall Eubanks of the aerospace firm Space Initiatives dubbed 3I\/ATLAS\u2019 non-gravitational acceleration \u201ctypical of normal comets,\u201d Spaceweather.com reported.<\/a><\/p>\n Images of 3I\/ATLAS taken on November 8, 2025. M. Jager, G. Rhemann, E. Prosperi<\/p>\n Loeb had previously dubbed its locomotion anomalous, citing ATLAS\u2019 unusual <\/a>maneuver during its closest approach to the sun last month, which he deemed evidence that it potentially deployed technological thrusters.<\/p>\n However, Eubanks and co determine that these rocket-like propulsions were actually caused by the gentle push comets receive from offgassing. Most active comets move this way as gas and dust blast off their surface\u00a0near our solar star, giving the object tiny pushes that alter their speed, orbit and spin.<\/p>\n The team determined this by measuring the \u201cnon-gravitational acceleration of 3I\/ATLAS using long-baseline astrometry (the science of measuring the positions, distances, and motions of celestial objects) from NASA\u2019s\u00a0Psyche\u00a0spacecraft and ESA\u2019s Mars Trace Gas Orbiter,\u201d Eubanks explained.<\/p>\n Their final conclusion: \u201c3I\/ATLAS is exotic and wonderful. It is also a comet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt has obvious cometary outgassing with a non-gravitational acceleration to match,\u201d the team wrote. \u201cClaiming that it, too, is a spacecraft does not fit the data.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat they need to do, instead of explaining what are the commonalities with familiar comets, which they often do, is explain the anomalies,\u201d Loeb told tThe Post. He speculated that the comet\u2019s jet could be a solar wind deflector shield. The Joe Rogan Experience<\/p>\n However, Loeb dubbed their correlation tenuous \u2014 on par with seeing a dirt plume shoot up and assuming it\u2019s caused by a living creature.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you see a cloud of dust in the desert, you might argue that it\u2019s an animal making this cloud because animals, when they run in the desert, they make a cloud of dust,\u201d he told The Post. \u201cBut it could also be a car. So it\u2019s really very superficial to say, \u2018oh, just because we see dust, it must be a comet.’\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cWhat they need to do, instead of explaining what are the commonalities with familiar comets, which they often do, is explain the anomalies.\u201d<\/p>\n Loeb argued that they failed to address 3I\/ATLAS\u2019 13 non-cometary traits, including the high levels of nickel (an industrial element) in its plume<\/a>, its unusual trajectory around our planets, and a tail pointing toward the sun rather than away as is typical.<\/p>\n A photo of interstellar comet 3I\/Atlas as it streaks through space, 190 million miles from Earth, on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. AP<\/p>\n In a recent post to Medium<\/a>, the astrophysicist floated a 14th anomaly \u2014 a rotation axis in the direction of the sun that he suspected could be evidence of a solar deflector shield.<\/p>\n