3I/ATLAS comet might generate light through nuclear power, physicist says

A Harvard physicist who sounded the alarm earlier this month about a rare interstellar object crossing our solar system – suggesting that this could be more than a comet – now says that he could even be a nuclear propulsion spacecraft.

The object, 3i / Atlas, was detected for the first time in early July by a telescope of the alert system (Atlas) with an asteroid earth impact in Chile. It only marks the third time that an interstellar object has been observed in our solar system, according to NASA.

While NASA ranked the object as a comet, Dr. Avi Loeb stressed that an image showed an unexpected glow in front of the object rather than hanging behind, something he called “quite surprising”.

In a blog article this week, Loeb wrote that the brightness profile of the object cannot be explained by the reflection of sunlight or the standard cometary output.

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Astronomers have discovered an unusual object entering our solar system earlier this month. (NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA); Image processing: Joseph Depasquale (STSCI))

Instead, he suggested, 3i / Atlas could generate its own light, perhaps from nuclear energy.

“Alternatively, the 3i / Atlas could be a spacecraft powered by nuclear energy, and the dust emitted by its frontal surface could come from the dirt that has accumulated on its surface during its interstellar trips,” wrote Loeb. “This cannot be excluded, but requires better evidence to be viable.”

Loeb has rejected other natural energy sources. A primordial black hole, he said, would only generate around 20 nanowatts-far too weak. A radioactive fragment of a supernova was very unlikely given its rarity, and the heating by friction from interstellar gas and dust was excluded by the momentum and the constraints of density.

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A Harvard physicist rings the alarms that the object could be an extraterrestrial probe. (Avi Loeb)

This leaves the simplest explanation – a central, compact and high power source. The most natural way of achieving the brightness at the level of the observed gigawatt, noted Loeb, would be nuclear energy.

However, Loeb does not claim that the object is powered by nuclear. He emphasizes that there is only one possible interpretation if natural models fail and proving that this would require more evidence.

3i / Atlas is estimated about 20 kilometers in diameter, larger than Manhattan.

Loeb has also raised questions about its unusual trajectory.

“If you imagine objects entering the solar system from random directions, only one in 500 of them would be so well aligned with planets orbits,” told Loeb to Fox News Digital earlier this month.

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The interstellar object, which comes from the center of the Milky Way, should also pass near Mars, Venus and Jupiter. (Atlas / University of Hawaii / NASA)

The interstellar object, which comes from the center of the Milky Way, should also pass near Mars, Venus and Jupiter, another improbable coincidence, he said.

“This is also close to each of them, with a probability of 20,000,” he said.

According to NASA, 3i / Atlas will reach its point closest to the sun – about 130 million kilometers away – October 30.

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“If it turns out to be technological, it would obviously have a great impact on the future of humanity,” said Loeb. “We have to decide how to answer this.”

Sophia Compton by Fox News Digita contributed to this report.