Mysterious Object Hurtling Toward Us From Beyond Solar System Appears to Be Emitting Its Own Light, Scientists Find
Last month, astronomers made an exciting discovery, observing an interstellar object – only the third ever observed – rushing towards the center of the solar system.
The object, nicknamed 3i / Atlas, drew the attention of Harvard’s astronomer, Avi Loeb, who has a long period of controversial predictions on previous interstellar objects being relics of an extraterrestrial civilization.
Although there has been an increasing consensus among astronomers according to which the last object is a comet, Loeb continued to entertain the idea that he may have been sent to us by an intelligent species from the outside of the solar system – and it is far from retreating.
In a blog post during the weekend, Loeb underlined the observations of the NASA Hubble Spatial Telescope, which showed a “light glow, probably coma, before the movement of 3i / Atlas towards the sun.
A coma is the misty and luminous cloud that surrounds the nucleus of a comet.
However, there is “no proof of a brilliant cometary tail in the opposite direction”, he wrote, with scientists suggesting that it was proof that the dust evaporate on the oriented side of the object sun.
The observations led Loeb and his colleagues to an intriguing possibility, although eccentric: does the mysterious space object generate “his own light?”
After deliberations with his colleague and astrophysicist of Harvard, Eric Keto, Loeb suggested that “the simplest interpretation” of the “steep brightness” of 3i / atlas “is that its nucleus” produces most of the light “.
This would also mean that its actual size is much smaller than what was currently thinking, almost in accordance with the size of the first two interstellar objects that we observed, ‘Oumamua and 2i / Borisov.
Harvard’s astronomer has suggested two possibilities: either 3i / Atlas naturally emits a radiation because it is a “rare fragment of the nucleus of a supernova nearby which is rich in radioactive materials” – or it is a “spacecraft powered by nuclear energy, and dust emitted by its frontal surface could come from the dirt that has accumulated on its surface during its interstellar travel.”
Loeb judged the first explanation “very improbable” and the second as requiring “better evidence”.
Loeb had previously argued that the unusual trajectory of the object – which includes malements with losses of earth from the earth and Jupiter – and its lack of visible tail is undermined the theory that it is a comet.
Curiously, 3i / Atlas will be at a sputum distance – at least in astronomical terms – of March this fall, giving us an attractive opportunity to have a first -hand look. LOEB suggested using NASA Mars recognition orbiter to point out its scientific instruments to the rare visitor.
Better still, scientists from the space agency seem to be a game.
“This morning, I encouraged the Hrise team to use their camera during the first week of October 2025 to collect new data on 3i / Atlas,” wrote Loeb. “They responded favorably.”
More on the object: The astronomer suggests that a new interstellar object could be advanced extraterrestrials testing our intelligence
