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Economic Times
4 days ago
- Science
- Economic Times
‘Is it a comet, a probe, or something else?' Meet 3I/ATLAS, the strange interstellar object baffling everyone
AP This diagram provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech shows the trajectory of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passes through the solar system. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP) A mysterious interstellar object, named 3I/ATLAS, is hurtling toward the Sun at over 130,000 mph, and scientists can't agree on what exactly it on July 1, 3I/ATLAS is the third known interstellar visitor to enter our solar system, following 2017's Oumuamua and 2019's Borisov. It measures about 15 miles wide, making it larger than Manhattan. While some astronomers suggest it's a comet made of water ice and organic compounds like silicates—similar to asteroids found in the outer regions of the solar system's main belt—others aren't convinced it's natural at all. — UAPWatchers (@UAPWatchers) Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, known for his bold theories about extraterrestrial intelligence, has again stirred debate. Along with researchers Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl from the Initiative for Interstellar Studies, Loeb has proposed that 3I/ATLAS may be an alien probe, pointing to its unusual trajectory and exceptionally high speed, even greater than ?Oumuamua's. The team speculates that such characteristics could offer "advantages to extraterrestrial intelligence," suggesting the object's path might be optimized for reconnaissance. — coreyspowell (@coreyspowell) Interestingly, some theorists believe the object is older than our solar system, possibly carrying water that predates Earth. Loeb notes that 3I/ATLAS will pass close to Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, which, he argues, could provide a discreet opportunity to deploy surveillance it makes its closest approach to the Sun in late November, 3I/ATLAS will no longer be visible from Earth—a detail Loeb says could be intentional to avoid detection during its brightest phase. — latestinspace (@latestinspace) 'If it's a technological artifact,' Loeb adds, 'it could support the Dark Forest theory'—a concept suggesting that alien civilizations stay silent to avoid being discovered by potentially hostile warns that if this theory holds, defensive measures might be necessary, though the object is moving too fast for any Earth-based spacecraft to intercept before it exits the Solar discovery has triggered a storm of speculation on social media, especially on X (formerly Twitter). — ClintonDesveaux (@ClintonDesveaux) One post read: 'Hubble just captured 3I/ATLAS and it's weirder than anyone expected! It looks like a comet, it flies like a probe—and it might not be natural at all.'Another conspiracy theory account added: 'Is this Project Bluebeam in action? The mainstream media is pushing the 'hostile alien object' narrative. 3I/ATLAS could be an invader comet, just like ?Oumuamua before it mysteriously slingshotted around the Sun and left the system at an unnatural speed.' — UAPWatchers (@UAPWatchers) Whether comet or craft, 3I/ATLAS continues to fuel a heated debate—raising scientific curiosity and interstellar suspicion in equal measure.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
‘Is it a comet, a probe, or something else?' Meet 3I/ATLAS, the strange interstellar object baffling everyone
— UAPWatchers (@UAPWatchers) Live Events — coreyspowell (@coreyspowell) — latestinspace (@latestinspace) — ClintonDesveaux (@ClintonDesveaux) — UAPWatchers (@UAPWatchers) (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel A mysterious interstellar object , named 3I/ATLAS , is hurtling toward the Sun at over 130,000 mph, and scientists can't agree on what exactly it on July 1, 3I/ATLAS is the third known interstellar visitor to enter our solar system, following 2017's Oumuamua and 2019's Borisov. It measures about 15 miles wide, making it larger than some astronomers suggest it's a comet made of water ice and organic compounds like silicates—similar to asteroids found in the outer regions of the solar system's main belt—others aren't convinced it's natural at astrophysicist Avi Loeb, known for his bold theories about extraterrestrial intelligence , has again stirred debate. Along with researchers Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl from the Initiative for Interstellar Studies, Loeb has proposed that 3I/ATLAS may be an alien probe , pointing to its unusual trajectory and exceptionally high speed, even greater than ?Oumuamua' team speculates that such characteristics could offer "advantages to extraterrestrial intelligence," suggesting the object's path might be optimized for some theorists believe the object is older than our solar system, possibly carrying water that predates Earth. Loeb notes that 3I/ATLAS will pass close to Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, which, he argues, could provide a discreet opportunity to deploy surveillance it makes its closest approach to the Sun in late November, 3I/ATLAS will no longer be visible from Earth—a detail Loeb says could be intentional to avoid detection during its brightest phase.'If it's a technological artifact,' Loeb adds, 'it could support the Dark Forest theory'—a concept suggesting that alien civilizations stay silent to avoid being discovered by potentially hostile warns that if this theory holds, defensive measures might be necessary, though the object is moving too fast for any Earth-based spacecraft to intercept before it exits the Solar discovery has triggered a storm of speculation on social media, especially on X (formerly Twitter).One post read: 'Hubble just captured 3I/ATLAS and it's weirder than anyone expected! It looks like a comet, it flies like a probe—and it might not be natural at all.'Another conspiracy theory account added: 'Is this Project Bluebeam in action? The mainstream media is pushing the 'hostile alien object' narrative. 3I/ATLAS could be an invader comet, just like ?Oumuamua before it mysteriously slingshotted around the Sun and left the system at an unnatural speed.'Whether comet or craft, 3I/ATLAS continues to fuel a heated debate—raising scientific curiosity and interstellar suspicion in equal measure.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Interstellar Meteors Hit Earth All the Time but Still Elude Astronomers
Astronomers think small space rocks from beyond our solar system routinely strike Earth—but proving it isn't easy Aliens are visiting our solar system. Not little green men, sadly, but natural alien objects—cosmic bodies such as comets and asteroids born elsewhere in the galaxy that zip by the sun as they drift through the Milky Way. They're not so much visiting as just passing through. Though these objects were speculated to exist for a long time, we didn't know they were out there for sure until October 2017, when astronomers noticed a small body moving through space at exceptionally high speed. Observations over just a few nights showed it was moving far too quickly to be orbiting the sun and thus must have come from some other star. It was our first known interstellar visitor. [Sign up for Today in Science, a free daily newsletter] Eventually designated 1I/'Oumuamua, it was 30 million kilometers from Earth and already outward bound from the solar system when it was discovered, offering scant time for follow-up studies. But then, less than two years later, a second such object was found, also moving far faster than usual. 2I/Borisov turned out to be a comet very similar to those we're familiar with, except for its trajectory, which clearly showed it came from interstellar space. And now a third such alien body is barreling through the solar system: 3I/ATLAS, moving so rapidly its path is barely bent at all by the sun's gravity as it zooms past. In science, one is an anomaly and two might be coincidence, but three is a trend. Clearly, objects like this are passing by on the regular. Roughly speaking, there could be ones 100 meters in size or larger passing through the inner solar system at any time. Given their speed and intrinsic faintness, though, they're difficult to detect. We also know that when it comes to things such as asteroids and comets, nature tends to make many more smaller ones than bigger ones. In our own solar system, for example, only a couple of dozen main-belt asteroids are bigger than 200 km wide, but more than a million are 1 km across or larger. This generalization should hold for interstellar interlopers as well. For every kilometer-scale one that we see, there should be far more that are smaller. In fact, there could be millions of sand-grain-sized alien objects whizzing past us right now. And we already know that they're out there: in 2014 astronomers announced they had found seven grains of cosmic dust brought down to Earth from the Stardust space probe, which was designed to catch material ejected from a comet. Also, embedded in some meteorites that have hit Earth are tiny bits of material, called presolar grains, that are so old they actually formed around other stars. They got here after being blown across the void of space into the collapsing cloud of gas and dust that formed the sun and planets 4.6 billion years ago. Larger material could be ejected from an alien planetary system if it's given a gravitational assist when passing by a planet there, or it could be torn away from its parent star by another star passing closely to that system. So it seems certain interstellar jetsam would occasionally hit our planet. Earth is a small target, but with so many galactic bullets, you'd think some would actually find their way to our planetary bull's-eye. The problem is detecting them. Every day Earth is hit by very roughly 100 tons of locally grown interplanetary debris—material ejected from asteroids and comets native to our solar system—which translates into billions of tiny specks zipping across our sky daily. Detecting the tiny fraction that have an interstellar origin is tough. And the difficulty is not just in the sheer numbers. It's in tracing the trajectories of that small handful across the sky back up into space to calculate their orbits. When an object such as a planet or an asteroid orbits the sun, we say it's gravitationally bound to our star. That orbit in general is an ellipse, an oval shape. These can be defined mathematically, with the key factor being the eccentricity: how much the ellipse deviates form a circle. A perfect circle has an eccentricity of 0, and the higher the eccentricity, the more elliptical the orbit, up to a value of just under 1. An orbit with an eccentricity of 0.99, say, is extremely elongated; you might find that an object dropping down very close to the sun from the outer solar system has an eccentricity that high. It's possible to have an eccentricity higher than 1 as well. That kind of trajectory is called hyperbolic—named after the mathematical curve, not because it's exaggeratedly over-the-top—and an object on this path is not bound to the sun gravitationally. Once it's heading out, it's gone forever. It ain't coming back. This is how we know 'Oumuamua, Borisov and ATLAS are from interstellar space; each has an eccentricity greater than 1—'Oumuamua's is about 1.2 and Borisov's 3.4, which is quite high, but ATLAS has them both beat with an astonishing eccentricity of 6.2. That's extraordinarily high and also indicates it's hauling asteroid (or, more accurately, it's not comet back). Do we see any meteors with eccentricities like these? If the exact path of a meteoroid (the term for the solid bit that burns up in the air and becomes a meteor) through Earth's atmosphere can be determined, that can be backtracked up into space, allowing the object's trajectory, including its eccentricity, to be calculated. This can be done with multiple sky cameras set up in various locations; if a meteor streaks across their field of view, the multiple vantages can allow astronomers to triangulate on the rock and measure its path. There are quite a few such camera networks. It's actually difficult getting good enough data to determine solid orbits for meteoroids, though. Many do have eccentricities very close to 1; these likely come from long-period comets that originate out past Neptune. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory maintains a database of bright fireballs—exceptionally luminous meteors—at the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). The earliest recorded meteors in the database date back to 1988, so there is a rich hunting ground in the data. Are any of the meteors listed hyperbolic? Unfortunately, no. At least, not unambiguously—there have been false positives but nothing clear-cut. Additionally, a study from 2020 looked at 160,000 measurements by the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar covering 7.5 years. The researchers found just five potential interstellar meteors. The results aren't quite statistically strong enough to claim detections for sure, but they're very compelling. What we need are more eyes on the sky, more meteor camera networks that can catch as many of these pieces of cosmic ejecta burning up in our atmosphere as possible. It's a numbers game: the more we see, the more likely we'll see some that are not from around here. The science would be, well, stellar: these meteors can tell us a lot about the environments around other stars, the ways they formed and perhaps even the stars they come from. We're getting physical samples from the greater galaxy for free. We should really try to catch them. Hat tip to planetary scientist Michele Bannister for the link to the CNEOS article. Solve the daily Crossword
Alalam24
22-07-2025
- Science
- Alalam24
A mysterious visitor from the depths of space is approaching the Sun at an astonishing speed
Astronomers have discovered a mysterious object coming from outside the solar system, named '3I ATLAS.' makes it the third known interstellar visitor to humanity, after 'Oumuamua in 2017 and Borisov in 2019. The object, believed to be an interstellar comet, is hurtling toward the Sun at an incredible speed of over 210,000 km/h. It is expected to reach its closest point to the Sun in October 2025 before continuing its journey away from our solar system toward an unknown destination. What makes this new space visitor remarkable is that it might be the oldest interstellar object ever detected, according to researchers. This opens the door to significant scientific discoveries about the nature of comets that originated in distant galaxies or star systems. Within less than 24 hours of its detection, scientists confirmed that '3I ATLAS' does not originate from our solar system — a rare occurrence that raises many questions about its origin and composition. Early observations show it has a cloud of gas and ice similar to traditional comets, with an estimated size of about 24 kilometers, making it larger than any previously observed interstellar comet. As for any potential threat to Earth, NASA has reassured the public that it poses no danger, as it will pass at a safe distance of approximately 240 million kilometers from our planet. Amateur astronomers may even have the chance to observe it with simple telescopes — or possibly with the naked eye — in the coming months as it approaches the Sun and grows brighter
03-07-2025
- Science
Astronomers spot 'interstellar object' speeding through solar system
An "interstellar object" is speeding toward the inner solar system, where Earth is located, astronomers have confirmed. The object -- likely a comet -- was first detected in data collected between by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS -- an asteroid impact early warning system in Rio Hurtado, Chile, funded by NASA, the space agency announced on Tuesday. Properties such as a marginal coma and short tail indicate signs of cometary activity, according to the Minor Planet Center. Numerous telescopes have reported additional observations since the object was first reported, NASA said. Observations from three different ATLAS telescopes around the world -- as well as the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California -- dating back to June 14 were gathered and provided data that supports the existence of the comet, according to a NASA update released Wednesday. It appears to be originating from interstellar space, arriving from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, and is currently about 420 million miles from Earth, according to NASA. The comet poses no threat to Earth and will remain at a distance of at least 150 million miles, astronomers said. It is estimated to reach its closest approach to the sun around Oct. 30, where it will cross at about 130 million miles away, just inside the orbit of Mars, according to NASA. The object, dubbed "A11pl3Z" or "3I/ATLAS," spans approximately 25 miles, Josep Trigo-Rodriguez, as astrophysicist at the Institute of Space Sciences near Barcelona, Spain, told The Associated Press. It's traveling at a speed of about 152,000 mph and approaching the inner solar system from the bar of the Milky Way, Live Science reported. Its trajectory suggests it did not originate in this solar system, according to This is only the third time in history that an interstellar object entering the inner solar system has been recorded. A cigar-shaped interstellar object called " Oumuamua," the Hawaiian word for "scout," was detected in 2017. And in 2019, an object named " 21/Borisov" -- a comet that likely strayed from another star system -- was located. Astronomers will continue to investigate the size and physical properties of the comet through September, after which it will pass too close to the sun to remain visible, NASA said.
