Astronomers detect first ‘radio sign’ from ‘alien spaceship’ 3I/ATLAS
The mysterious object feared to be an alien space craft as it flies through space at mega speed has sent its first radio wave signals, but boffins believe there’s a clear reason behind it
The first radio signal has been picked up from the mystery UFO hurtling across space towards Earth. Astronomers detected radio waves fromthe “interstellar anomaly” known as 3I/ATLAS as it passed the halfway point of its one-way trip through our solar system.
Using South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope, researchers detected hydroxyl radicals (OH) around the object on October 24, it has emerged. Analysis of the molecules suggests the surface temperature of the mysterious object – currently around 203 million miles from Earth – is around –45°F, and that it measures up to six miles in diameter.
Theoretical physicist Avi Loeb has 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.
And it is believed the radio waves 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.”
Astronomers have previously reported evidence of water coming from the interstellar visitor when they spotted water spewing from the comet “like a fire hose” on full blast. The latest findings show the water is being broken down by solar radiation.
The new radio signals were first detected shortly after the object briefly disappeared behind the sun during perihelion and temporarily changed colour.
Discovered on July 1, 2025, Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third known object from outside our solar system to be discovered hurtling through space.
Scientists think it is potentially the oldest of its kind ever seen and it was catapulted out of an alien star system in the “frontier” region of the Milky Way up to seven billion years ago.
New pictures released this week revealed it displayed an “anti-tail” after its passed behind the sun. But prof Loeb this week urged the NASA to release photos taken by its telescopes 40 days ago but have not yet been seen due to the US government shutdown.
He wrote in his blog: “Scientific knowledge should not be second in priority to bureaucracy.”
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