A newly discovered interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, has sparked controversy after a small group of scientists, including Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, suggested it might be “possibly hostile” alien technology disguised as a comet. The claim, detailed in a non–peer-reviewed paper uploaded to arXiv, draws parallels to Loeb’s earlier speculation about the 2017 object ‘Oumuamua, which he argued could be an alien probe. Critics have dismissed the new theory as “nonsense” and “insulting,” pointing to strong evidence that 3I/ATLAS is a natural object—a massive comet traveling toward the Sun at over 130,000 mph, with a coma stretching up to 15 miles wide. Initial data indicates it may be up to 3 billion years older than our solar system, possibly making it the oldest comet ever observed.

While the researchers frame their work as a “pedagogical exercise” rather than proof, they highlight unusual traits in 3I/ATLAS and offer alternative explanations, including the “dark forest” hypothesis—that advanced civilizations remain hidden to avoid detection by potential threats. Loeb, head of the Galileo Project and known for pursuing evidence of extraterrestrial “technosignatures,” has a history of proposing alien origins for unusual cosmic objects, including controversial expeditions to recover supposed alien debris. Though mainstream science remains unconvinced, the discussion fuels broader speculation about extraterrestrial contact—an idea that, in a prophetic context, could one day be leveraged as part of the great deception to explain away the Rapture.

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SOURCE: Space