Plume from ‘thriller UFO’ 3I/Atlas ‘might be technological signature’, Boffin claims
The mysterious interstellar visitor known as 3I/Atlas has gripped stargazers for months and while Nasa boffins insist it is a comet, theoretical physicist Avi Loeb believes it is far from conclusive
A mystery object hurtling through space could be emitting a “technological signature” as it heads toward Earth, a boffin fears. Harvard professor Avi Loeb said 3I/Atlas could even clearing the path from any hazardous micrometeorites that could damage it.
Nasa tried to quash claims the interstellar visitor was an alien spacecraft on Wednesday, but Loeb claims the latest pictures show glowing plume in the direction of motion ahead of it.
Writing in his blog, the theoretical physicist said: “It is easy to explain a plume of gas and dust extended towards the Sun as a result of the illumination of pockets of ice by sunlight or away from the Sun as a result of radiation pressure or the solar wind.
“It is also possible to explain a trailing stream that the object leaves behind as the drag on the solar wind slows it down relative to the object.
“But it is much more difficult to account for a plume extended perpendicular to the direction of the Sun and ahead of the object. Could this be a technological signature of illuminating or clearing the path from any hazardous micrometeorites that may cause damage to a technological object?”
He said something appears to be preceding the object, which was “previously confused with being in the direction of the Sun”, but is actually in the direction of motion.
He added: “In previous images like the Hubble Space Telescope image, the two directions were similar when 3I/ATLAS was heading towards the Sun from far away.”
He went on: “For now, we can only hope that the mysteries of 3I/ATLAS will be cleared by data in the next few weeks when large ground-based telescopes as well as the Hubble and Webb telescopes will be able to characterize the jets of 3I/ATLAS by measuring their composition, speed and mass loading rate.
“These details will inform us without a doubt whether the jets are produced by natural pockets of ice that are warmed by sunlight or by technological thrusters.
“Upcoming data can be used to search for any additional objects that came out of 3I/ATLAS, be it fragments of ice for a natural object or mini-probes for a technological object.”
The make-up of the interstellar visitor has left boffins baffled for months. Most experts claim it is a comet, but Loeb has suggested it could be an alien “mothership” on a reconnaissance mission as it blasts through the Solar System at 130,000mph.
He previously listed 12 anomalies about the space rock, which he said supported his theory.
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