3I/ATLAS
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Is it a harmless visitor from another star, or something far more sinister disguised as a natural phenomenon?

The debate surrounding the Manhattan-sized interstellar object 3I/ATLAS has taken a dark turn, with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb issuing a stark warning: we must consider the possibility that this cosmic traveller is an extraterrestrial 'Trojan horse,' a 'black swan event' whose arrival could have profound implications for humanity.

Loeb's alarming assessment comes just days after the NASA-backed International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) initiated an emergency monitoring campaign in response to the object's increasingly bizarre behaviour.

While official statements maintain there is no threat, Loeb argues that the object's sheer scale and unpredictable nature demand a level of vigilance and even defence planning that goes far beyond scientific curiosity.

The Immense Scale of 3I/ATLAS: A Thousand Times More Massive

Professor Loeb, who has maintained from the object's July discovery that an alien origin should not be ruled out, detailed his concerns on 'Elizabeth Vargas Reports.' His primary worry lies in the staggering size of 3I/ATLAS. Based on data from the James Webb Space Telescope, he infers the object could weigh an astonishing 33 billion tonnes

'It's at least a thousand times more massive than the previous interstellar objects we've seen', the astrophysicist declared. 'And the question is, why is such a giant object delivered to our inner solar system, when we saw only small ones before?'

This statistical anomaly, finding such a colossal visitor so early in our search for interstellar objects, is a key piece of evidence fueling Loeb's unease.

A Cosmic 'Black Swan' or Trojan Horse? Loeb's Warning About 3I/ATLAS

Loeb urged the international community to consider 3I/ATLAS as a potential 'black swan event.' This term describes a high-impact occurrence that is difficult to predict but seems inevitable in hindsight. He fears the object might appear 'natural at first' but could ultimately reveal itself to be something entirely different, 'like a Trojan Horse.'

To illustrate the uncertainty, Loeb used a striking analogy. He compared humanity's encounter with 3I/ATLAS to a 'blind date.'

'You often assume that the dating partner would be very friendly,' he explained, 'but you have to worry about serial killers, as well.' This stark comparison underscores his belief that we cannot simply assume benign intentions from an unknown entity arriving from interstellar space.

The Anomalous Behaviour Fuelling Fears About 3I/ATLAS

Loeb's concerns are rooted in a growing list of anomalies that defy easy explanation within conventional cometary science. These include:

  • The Anti-Tail: For months, the object displayed a jet of particles pointing towards the Sun, the opposite of a normal comet tail.
  • Strange Emissions: It was observed venting a plume containing four grams of nickel per second, with no corresponding iron. The specific compound suggested, nickel tetracarbonyl, is primarily known from industrial manufacturing on Earth.
  • Non-Gravitational Acceleration: The object appears to be deviating from a purely gravity-dictated path, suggesting some other force is acting upon it.
  • Suspicious Trajectory: Its path brings it unusually close to Jupiter, Venus, and Mars, raising questions about potential 'fine-tuning' or reconnaissance.

In a provocative paper published in July, Loeb explored the hypothesis that 3I/ATLAS could be an active, intelligent alien probe, potentially with malign intentions.

While NASA's official stance remains that the object poses no threat, the IAWN's activation of a monitoring campaign acknowledges the unprecedented nature of the situation. The campaign, running from November 27, 2025, through January 27, 2026, aims to refine tracking methods specifically for this object.

The Approaching Test for 3I/ATLAS

Currently, 3I/ATLAS is just days away from its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion on October 29), after which it will temporarily slip out of view. Loeb believes this could be a critical moment. If the object uses the Sun's gravity for a slingshot manoeuvre to change speed or trajectory in a non-gravitational way, it would strongly support the artificial origin theory.

'If 3I/ATLAS is a massive mothership, it will likely continue along its original gravitational path and ultimately exit the Solar system,' Loeb shared in a recent Sunday blog post. The coming weeks promise to be pivotal in unravelling the true nature of this enigmatic visitor

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