3I/ATLAS Flyby: Why Jupiter's 96th Moon Could Be A 'Technological Signature' For Earth

As 2026 unfolds, a rare celestial guest is preparing for its final, dramatic act before vanishing into the deep dark of space. The interstellar comet known as 3I/ATLAS, having already skirted past Mars and Earth, is now hurtling toward a high-stakes rendezvous with the king of our solar system: Jupiter.

This isn't just a standard flyby; it is a trajectory so precise that it has ignited a debate among the world's leading astronomers.

On 16 March 2026, 3I/ATLAS will scream past the gas giant at a distance of 53.61 million kilometres. While that sounds like a vast gulf, it represents a precision strike in orbital mechanics.

This distance places the comet right at the boundary of Jupiter's Hill radius, the invisible line where the planet's gravitational muscle finally overpowers the pull of the Sun.

Interstellar Intrigue: The Mystery Of The 96th Moon

For most astronomers, 3I/ATLAS is a fascinating frozen fossil from a distant star system.

For Harvard's Professor Avi Loeb, however, it is something potentially more profound. Loeb has pointed out a 'fine-tuned' coincidence: the comet's trajectory, influenced by non-gravitational accelerations during its October 2025 perihelion, seems perfectly adjusted to graze the edge of Jupiter's gravitational sphere.

Without these slight course corrections, the object would have missed the Hill sphere entirely.

'A kick of the required magnitude and direction to bring a fragment of 3I/ATLAS into a bound orbit around Jupiter is an impossible outcome from the break-up of a comet,' Loeb argues.

He suggests that if 3I/ATLAS were a piece of alien technology rather than merely ice and rock, it might choose this moment to deploy 'gadgets' or sensors. Currently, Jupiter has 95 known moons. If a fresh 96th moon suddenly appears in a stable orbit after March 16, Loeb believes we will have found a clear 'technological signature' for the interstellar visitor.

A Close Encounter With Eupheme Crossing The Interstellar Threshold

The drama does not end with the Hill radius. Just twenty-four hours later, on 17 March 2026, 3I/ATLAS will make an even closer approach to one of Jupiter's more obscure residents: the irregular moon Eupheme. Flying within 30.46 million kilometres of this tiny satellite, the comet will pass through a region of space populated by the Ananke group.

Eupheme is a member of this unique family of 15 moons, all thought to be the shattered remains of a single parent asteroid that was captured and then pulverised in a long-ago collision. These moons are the 'outsiders' of the Jovian system; they orbit in the opposite direction to Jupiter's spin and follow highly tilted, elliptical paths.

Seeing 3I/ATLAS weave through this graveyard of captured objects provides a poetic parallel, an interstellar traveller passing through a collection of local ones.

As the comet prepares to exit our system, never to return, scientists are keeping their telescopes trained on the gas giant. Whether 3I/ATLAS leaves behind a scientific mystery or a new member of the Jovian family, its departure marks the end of a historic visit that has challenged our understanding of the objects that drift between the stars.