The last article published by the Astronomo of the University of Harvard decidedly “noise” Avi Loeb on the non-peer-reviewed Arxiv platform in which it states that the third interstellar comet never discovered by man, 3i/Atlashas particular orbital characteristics that would be compatible with a alien origin of the object. The head of the Galileo project for the search for technology tests extraterrestrial it is not new to controversial statements that they are completely opposed of those commonly accepted by the astronomical community. In the article, which he defines a “pedagogical exercise”Avi Loeb even pushes to say that the object could be potentially hostileproposing to intercept with the Juno probe Near Jupiter on March 14, 2026 to reveal its nature. Needless to specify that in reality 3i/Atlas is far from artificial originsimply being a interstellar comet which has the fascinating feature of coming from the outside of our sun system.
What Avi Loeb says about the “alien” nature of the comet 3i/Atlas
3i/Atlas It is the third interstellar cometthat is, from outside our sun system, never discovered by man, after the comet 2i/Borisov and 1i/’Oumuamua. Already on the occasion of the passage near the land of 1i/’Oumuamua, the astronomer of Harvard Avi Loeb had launched a heartfelt appeal to the astronomical and spatial community to design a mission with great quickness that reached the comet to study its alleged extra-terrestrial origin.
Punctual with the arrival of the third interstellar object, here Avi Loeb has launched in New statements about the possible alien nature of this distant visitor. In a couple of articles published on the platform Arxiv (in which manuscripts they are not subject to equal review by experts in the sector) Avi Loeb and his co-authors said that the comet could be Actually one Some form of secret alien technology sent here by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization e potentially aggressive. The authors simply speak of a “pedagogical exercise”not providing No convincing tests of the extra-terrestrial nature of the object, except to speak generically of anomalous features shown by the comet, linked in particular at the greater speed than 2i/Borisov and 1i/’Oumuamua and at the entrance corner of the solar system, side compared to the orbit of the sun through the Milky Way.
In a post on the medium site accompanied by the article, Avi Loeb explains that the trajectory of the object would have been deliberately chosen from an extra-terrestrial intelligence to pass quite close to Jupiter, Mars and Venus for secretly deploying probes. In addition, the maximum approach to the sun will take place when 3i/Atlas will be on the opposite side of our star compared to the earth, preventing Like this detailed observations from terrestrial telescopes Just when the object is brighter and when it could potentially unfold probes to study our planet.
But it does not end there because Loeb also states that the speed of 3i/Atlas is studied on purpose For make Very difficult the launch of a Space probe to intercept it and that in case 3i/Atlas is an alien artifact, then this would be a test to support the “Dark Forest theory”. The latter states that the reason why we have not yet found evidence of the existence of extra-terrestrials is due to the fact that the latter are silent to remain hidden from potential more advanced and hostile civilizations capable of destroying them. The researchers therefore conclude their “pedagogical exercise” by stating that Not via are sufficient evidence To demonstrate conclusively cHe 3i/Atlas is a cometespecially because of the alleged lack of “volatile substances”or specific chemicals associated with comets, inside its hair.
The real characteristics of the interstellar comet
Since the comet has been identified the 1st July 2025 From the Atlas telescope in Chile, an increasing number of increasingly sophisticated telescopes, such as the real C. Rubin Observatory, were focused in the direction of 3i/Atlas leading to a general consent in the astronomical community that it is a “simple” interstellar cometexpelled from his star system mother as already happened to billions of other comets in the sun system.
According to the most recent data, 3i/Atlas wheel on itself every 16 hours and already shows i first signs of cometscontrary to what Loeb stated, which are fully compatible with those expected by a comet that is halfway between the orbit of Mars and that of Jupiter, to about 3,3 Astronomical units from the sun. In particular, the “spectral signature” large water grains of water in the hair of the comet, with for now only a very weak hint of the tail. The close passage to Mars is scheduled for the first half of October, while his maximum approach to the sun It is scheduled for the 29 October 2025when it will move on to 1,3 astronomical units from our star. Subsequently, 3i/Atlas will continue his crazy race a 58 km/s (208,800 km/h) on ahyperbolic orbit (distinctive feature of the interstellar comets) which will first bring it close to Jupiter, on March 16, 2026, and then towards the external suburbs of the sun system leaving our planetary system forever.
In short 3i/Atlas is so an exceptional objectbut certainly not for its extra-terrestrial nature. Avi Loeb’s provocative articles have unleashed reactions somewhat annoyance in the scientific community. Astronomes are in fact of the idea that statements such as Loeb’s minimal The validity of the scientific investigation of the cometderubricating these studies to the general public as a useless search for green men in space. “Exceptional statements require exceptional evidence,” said Carl Sagan, and those brought by Avi Loeb and collaborators are decidedly not exceptional.
