Harvard University professor says encounter could be ‘a blind date of interstellar proportions’
An interstellar comet barrelling through the solar system towards Earth at 60km a second could be alien technology, a leading astronomer has suggested.
Harvard University astronomer Professor Avi Loeb said the object known as 3I/Atlas had eight “anomalies” that together made a strong case against it simply being a natural comet.
The arrival of 3I/Atlas into our solar system was first spotted by astronomers on July 1. It is set to pass closest to Earth on December 19.
However, most scientists around the world have since concluded it is a natural comet.
The notable exception is Professor Loeb, who said the chances of it being alien technology are significant and real.
The name 3I/Atlas originated from the object’s status as the third ever interstellar object, while Atlas came from the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System – the network of robotic telescopes in Hawaii, Chile and South Africa that first spotted it.
Prof Loeb said the exceptional brightness of 3I/Atlas suggested it had a diameter of 20km, which is thousands of times bigger than the two previous interstellar objects.
The trajectory that it is on is striking: nearly perfectly aligned to the orbital plane of the planets, the flat, disc-shaped surface on which all the planets orbit the Sun, a plane known as the ecliptic.
The odds of an interplanetary object being aligned, by chance, to the ecliptic, Prof Loeb said, were “one in 500”.
It is a trajectory that will bring it on precise flybys of Jupiter, Venus and Mars, while avoiding a close approach of Earth.
“The combined probability of observing these anomalies is less than one in 10 to the 1610 quadrillion,” said Prof Loeb.
The size of the object was suspicious too, he said.
“There is simply not enough rocky material in interstellar space to explain such a massive arrival, even once per decade.”
According to Prof Loeb, it makes sense only if 3I/Atlas had been somehow targeted to arrive here rather than just randomly flung through space.
The possibility that 3I/Atlas is alien and that it could be a threat to humanity needs to be carefully considered, the professor said.
“If there is a technological object designed to visit the inner solar system, we simply don’t know its intent – it could represent a type of risk we have never considered,” he said.
There may be an opportunity for scientists to learn more today when 3I/Atlas reaches perihelion, its closest point to the sun, 210 million km away.
Prof Loeb speculates that 3I/Atlas could be revealed as an “alien mothership” today.
Since it is on the opposite side of the sun, hidden from telescope view on Earth, today might be a good opportunity to release “mini probes” to explore solar system planets, he said.
Meeting someone from another star is a blind date of interstellar proportions
Dr Antonio Martin-Carrillo, a physicist at UCD, said Professor Loeb’s habit of invoking alien explanations for celestial phenomena was at odds with more measured scientific interpretations.
“There are still too many unknowns in this category,” he said. “Unless one can show the object is actively and autonomously changing its orbit to make these flybys happen, I fail to see how this could be related to aliens.”
Dr Stefano Bagnulo, an astronomer at Armagh Observatory, said: “I have to admit that I did not pay much attention to the speculation that 3I/Atlas might be an extraterrestrial probe.
“Like probably the overwhelming majority of the astronomical community, I was satisfied that 3I/Atlas is an interstellar comet – awaiting data to support its likely origin.”
Prof Loeb believes the coming weeks will be decisive in determining if 3I/Atlas is natural or alien.
If it begins to behave like a known comet, the attraction may fade, but if it acts in surprising ways, humanity may be forced to confront the possibility that 3I/Atlas is alien technology.
Science Spinning 