Thomas Unise
A rare interstellar visitor passing through our solar system has captured scientific attention, but shows no signs of artificial origin despite some speculation. The object, designated 3I/ATLAS, is the third confirmed interstellar object ever discovered traversing our solar system.
What We Know About 3I/ATLAS
Discovered in July by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System in Chile, 3I/ATLAS was immediately notable for its extremely high velocity – moving too fast to be bound by the Sun’s gravity. The object made its closest approach to Earth on December 19, coming within 167 million miles of our planet.
Scientific observations indicate 3I/ATLAS displays typical cometary characteristics, including:
- A bright cloud of gas and dust (coma)
- An icy core or nucleus
- Composition likely including carbon dioxide and water ice
The Search for Artificial Signals
Despite mounting evidence of its natural origins, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb has maintained the possibility that 3I/ATLAS could be an artificial object created by an extraterrestrial civilization. This prompted further investigation by the scientific community.
Researchers from the Breakthrough Listen project, which searches for signs of intelligent life in the universe, pointed the Green Bank Telescope (the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope) at 3I/ATLAS during its approach. Their yet-to-be-peer-reviewed findings revealed no detection of artificial radio emissions from the object.
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI) confirmed: “No artificial radio emission localized to 3I/ATLAS was detected… 3I/ATLAS continues to behave as expected from natural astrophysical processes.”
Loeb’s Perspective
Avi Loeb has created his own “Loeb scale” to quantify how likely an interstellar object might be of alien origin, with zero being natural and ten being confirmed alien technology. He initially ranked 3I/ATLAS as a four on this scale but has declined to update his ranking until more data is analyzed.
Loeb continues to document what he considers “anomalies” about the object, including:
- Its unusually large suspected size
- A trajectory bringing it relatively close to multiple planets in our solar system
Scientific Consensus
The scientific consensus strongly indicates 3I/ATLAS is a natural object. Researchers from the Breakthrough Listen project concluded: “There is currently no evidence to suggest that [interstellar objects] are anything other than natural astrophysical objects.”
However, they also noted that “given the small number of such objects known (only three to date), and the plausibility of interstellar probes as a technosignature, thorough study is warranted.”
SETI researchers similarly acknowledged that despite its apparently natural origin, 3I/ATLAS “remains an extremely interesting target for observation given the overall rarity of interstellar objects.”
As scientists continue analyzing data from 3I/ATLAS’s passage through our solar system, the evidence increasingly points to a fascinating but natural phenomenon rather than evidence of extraterrestrial technology.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings