Loeb Says Humanity Arrived Late To The Cosmic Party — 3I/ATLAS Proves It

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has used the recent flyby of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS to highlight how small man is in the universe.

The object came closest to Earth on 19 December 2025, at a distance of 268.91 million kilometres. Although there were speculations regarding its origin, 3I/ATLAS showed no abnormal manoeuvres or evidence of artificial activity; it just proceeded on its orbit within the solar system.

Loeb explained the act as a 'message in a bottle' to the Earth, and that interstellar visitors may not be interested in our planet.

According to him, we as humans came late to the local cosmic party, the final 0.0001 of the Milky Way's history, because our civilisation is a newcomer to a galaxy that was formed billions of years ago.

Not The Centre Of Attention

Throughout history, humankind believed the world was centred on the Earth. Loeb uses 3I/ATLAS to argue that we have come a long way since that geocentric perspective. The path of the comet, with a projection of five degrees towards the ecliptic view, did not pass over Earth, but instead crossed the opposite side of the Sun in October 2025.

Loeb observed that Jupiter is much more likely to attract the universe's attention, since it has a mass 318 times that of Earth. The comet will then face Jupiter next on the 16th of March 2026, when it is predicted to come within 53.3 million kilometres of the planet, closer to Jupiter than the radius of its Hill sphere, where its gravity is stronger than the tidal forces of the Sun.

Strange Cues And Unanswered Questions

Amateur astronomers had managed to capture images showing a very impressive tail of an anti-tail jet directed towards the Sun, ten times as long as it is wide, reaching almost a million kilometres. Loeb pointed out that such strongly collimated anti-tails are rare and should be studied further.

He has requested imaging and spectroscopic data over the next few months to help explain these anomalies. Observations by Juno, the NASA spacecraft, during the Jupiter flyby will provide important clues, mainly if 3I/ATLAS displays unanticipated behaviour, such as fragmentation or unusual outgassing.

A Call For Interstellar Exploration

On the one hand, there is the momentary, scientific curiosity of the yet-observed cosmic fascination; on the other, Loeb feels that 3I/ATLAS is a spur to new aspirations in space exploration.

These sentiments have been reinforced by NASA's new administrator, Jared Isaacman, who emphasised that it is vital to continue exploring beyond the inner solar system. Loeb believes that studying interstellar objects such as 3I/ATLAS will lead to the emergence of a new field he calls 'interstellar archaeology,' which focuses on further understanding the cosmos beyond our observable universe.

With 3I/ATLAS still on its way, researchers expect it to fly past Jupiter in March 2026. Nevertheless, beyond anomalies being idiosyncratic peculiarities or indications of deeper meaning, Loeb's thoughts help us understand that our planet is not at the centre of the cosmological story.

The quiet flight of the comet over the earth points to an embarrassing fact: we were the last to arrive at a great galactic party.