SouthernWorldwide.com – A Harvard physicist has proposed a startling theory regarding a recently discovered interstellar object, suggesting it could be an alien probe on a “reconnaissance mission.” The object, designated 3I/ATLAS, was first observed in early July by an ATLAS telescope in Chile, marking only the third instance of an interstellar object entering our solar system, as reported by NASA.
While NASA has classified 3I/ATLAS as a comet, physicist Avi Loeb pointed out a curious anomaly: an unexpected glow appeared in front of the object, rather than trailing behind it. This observation, he stated, was “quite surprising.”
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Measuring approximately 20 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than Manhattan, 3I/ATLAS is also unusually bright for its distance from Earth. However, Loeb highlighted its trajectory as its most peculiar characteristic.
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“If you imagine objects entering the solar system from random directions, just one in 500 of them would be aligned so well with the orbits of the planets,” Loeb explained, emphasizing the statistical improbability of its path.
The object, originating from the center of the Milky Way galaxy, is also projected to pass close to Mars, Venus, and Jupiter. According to Loeb, this proximity to multiple planets is also highly unlikely to occur by chance.
“It also comes close to each of them, with a probability of one in 20,000,” he added, further underscoring the object’s unusual orbital behavior.
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NASA data indicates that 3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to the sun, approximately 130 million miles away, on October 30th.
“If it turns out to be technological, it would obviously have a big impact on the future of humanity,” Loeb stated, suggesting that a significant decision about how to respond to such a discovery would be necessary.
In a related incident earlier this year, astronomers from the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts mistakenly identified a SpaceX’s Tesla Roadster, launched by Elon Musk seven years prior, as an asteroid.
