3I/ATLAS actually is a ‘spacecraft’ as scientist says new proof factors to ‘thrusters’
The mysterious interstellar object 3I/ATLAS has sparked wild speculation it could be an alien spacecraft after surviving a fiery solar flyby, emitting bizarre radio signals, and displaying baffling features
3I/ATLAS is the mysterious ‘comet’ that has gripped the world in the last few weeks. And it might really be an alien spacecraft new observations suggest. This comes as a series of baffling anomalies, including its survival of a close solar flyby, massive unexplained jets, and an unusual “anti-tail”, has been studied.
Earlier this week, astronomers picked up a bizarre radio signal from the mysterious interstellar object 3I/ATLAS as it hurtled through our solar system, fueling wild speculation it could be an alien craft.
The so-called “anomaly” has stunned scientists by surviving a fiery brush with the Sun without breaking apart, a feat no ordinary comet could pull off.
Instead of disintegrating, 3I/ATLAS emerged as a single, glowing body, complete with a strange “anti-tail” and two gigantic jets blasting material in opposite directions, phenomena experts say defy the laws of physics. As a result, Harvard professor Avi Loeb has newly reckoned these oddities could be the work of “technological thrusters”, hinting the object might be a mothership from another world.
New photographs from the Nordic Optical Telescope, a 2.56-meter research telescope located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, Spain’s Canary Islands revealed that 3I/ATLAS is still sporting a baffling “anti-tail”.
The “anti-tail” was observed to be a streak of debris bizarrely pointing towards the Sun, even as the object speeds away from it. Normally, a comet’s tail trails behind, blown by solar winds, but this odd reversal has left experts scratching their heads, with some suggesting it’s just a trick of the light, the Daily Mail reported.
Moreover, the latest images also show two colossal jets erupting from 3I/ATLAS, one firing straight at the Sun and the other, nearly three times longer, blasting in the opposite direction. Given the object’s modest size, about 3.5 miles wide, Professor Loeb has insisted there’s simply not enough ice to explain such dramatic outbursts, dismissing the idea that they’re just water vapour.
Instead he has backed a controversial theory that these could be “technological thrusters”, hinting at a possible alien spacecraft, a claim that’s sparked fierce debate among scientists around the globe. The professor wrote on his Medium blog: “This post-perihelion manoeuvre might be employed by a spacecraft that aims to gain speed rather than slow down through the gravitational assist from the sun.”
Loeb had already led warnings the huge space rock could be an “extraterrestrial artefact” about to make first contact. But most boffins think it’s a comet that has been travelling for billions of years.
It is also believed the radio waves that have been recently picked up are proof of its natural origins as are the result of specific wavelength absorption related to the presence of hydroxyl radicals, or OH molecules, in the comet’s coma, Livescience reports.
The outlet says: “These radicals are formed by the breakdown of water molecules as they are ejected from the comet via a natural process known as outgassing, which is a clear sign of cometary activity, according to a 2016 study.”
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