Dr. Avi Loeb – a Harvard scientist who founded the Galileo Project focused on finding extraterrestrial life – said a recently discovered comet has an unusual course, and might even be “intelligently” directed.
“I think that when we have a blind date from a visitor from another star, all bets are off,” said Loeb in an interview with CBS News affiliate WBZ-TV about Comet 3I/ATLAS. “We shouldn’t assume anything, and we should assess the risk given the data that we have.”
According to NASA, it’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, first reported observations about this comet on July 1. After that first report, observations made before the discovery have also been gathered from different ATLAS telescopes around the world, extending back to June 14. Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third known object from outside our solar system to be discovered, NASA said.
NASA also said the comet is from interstellar space, or the area between the stars, based on the shape of its orbital path, outside of the sun. It has drifted for millions or billions of years before arriving in our solar system and is approaching from the general direction of the constellation Sagittarius, per the agency. When it was discovered, Comet 3I/ATLAS was in Jupiter’s orbit.
Astronomers around the globe are currently studying Comet 3I/ATLAS’s physical properties. It should remain visible to ground-based telescopes through next month and then again in December after it passes by the sun but soon after it is expected to disappear from our view forever.
An image of the comet was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope on July 21, when it was 227 million miles from earth. Scientists said it could be from 1,000 feet across to 2.5 miles across. It’s travelling fast – around 137,000 miles per hour.
“Comet 3I/ATLAS poses no threat to Earth and will remain far away,” NASA said. “The closest it will approach our planet is about 1.8 astronomical units (about 170 million miles, or 270 million kilometers).
3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to the Sun around Oct. 30, 2025, at a distance of about 1.4 au (130 million miles, or 210 million kilometers) – just inside the orbit of Mars.”
Loeb said that the comet’s “extremely unusual” path will also take it close to Venus as well as Mars and Jupiter and that it will pass closest to the sun close to Halloween, on Oct. 29. While NASA states that the object is a comet with an “icy nucleus” and a bright cloud of gas and dust surrounding it, Loeb said it could also be alien spacecraft.
He has joined Audacy’s “Something Offbeat” twice to discuss his search for alien life. Loeb told the show last year that his search wasn’t limited to just space.
“Even if the government doesn’t release the information, you know, the sky is not classified,” he said. “The oceans are not classified. By doing scientific research into this will find the evidence ourselves.”