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NASA Scientist Disputes Claim That Mysterious Object Headed Into Solar System Was Sent by Aliens

NASA has thrown cold water on Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb's theory that interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS was sent to us by an extraterrestrial civilization — a sobering albeit unsurprising conclusion that just might put the captivating hypothesis to rest once and for all. In early July, astronomers first discovered the object, which was only the third interstellar visitor ever detected in the solar system. Since then, Loeb has advanced the "tantalizing possibility" that 3I/ATLAS was "sent tow

The Mysterious Object Cruising Toward Mars Is Doing Something Very Peculiar

A mysterious object from interstellar space is screaming through our solar system right now, and is expected to rip past Mars and Jupiter over the coming months before exiting back into the void between stars. Astronomers have been fascinated by the unusual visitor, dubbed 3I/ATLAS after its discovery in July, and have broadly come to the conclusion that it's a comet comprised of ice and dust particles. As the object approaches its closest point to our Sun, its activity is steadily picking up

Topics: 3i atlas loeb object sun

Mysterious Object Headed Into Our Star System Is Now Changing Color

As interstellar object 3I/ATLAS approaches its closest point to the Sun next month, the mysterious visitor continues to fascinate astronomers. The object, which is broadly believed to be a comet that came to us from outside the solar system, has already been observed changing shape. Its tail has grown longer, and its coma — a large atmosphere of gas and dust that surrounds its nucleus — has become more pronounced. Those are expected characteristics from a comet ripping by the Sun at ludicrous s

Scientist Watching to See If Mysterious Object Visiting Our Solar System Releases Any Probes

Ever since a mysterious interstellar object, since dubbed 3I/ATLAS, was first spotted screaming into our solar system this year, famed Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has been raising the possibility that the interstellar interloper is an "extraterrestrial artifact" that was sent to us by an intelligent alien race. Researchers have broadly come to the consensus that 3I/ATLAS is a comet. Most recently, observations by the Gemini South telescope in Chile confirmed that its tail is growing longer,

Mysterious Object Headed Into Our Solar System Is Changing Shape, New Image Shows

"Even the most fleeting visitors can leave a lasting impact." Astronomers have been racing to get a better look at 3I/ATLAS, a mysterious object screaming into our solar system from far beyond. While there's a broad consensus among experts that the object is a comet, observations by four NASA telescopes have defied expectations, showing that it bears a much higher proportion of carbon dioxide gas than expected. Now, as the BBC reports, new observations by the Gemini South telescope at Cerro P

Four Telescopes Confirm There's Something Deeply Strange About the Mysterious Object Headed Into the Solar System

By definition, scientists don't know what to expect as they inspect the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, since it's only the third object detected from beyond the solar system in human history. But the surprises just keep coming. The mysterious entity, which was first spotted hurtling towards the Sun from far beyond in early July, has fascinated researchers ever since. As Science Alert points out, a quartet of powerful telescopes — NASA's Hubble, SPHEREx, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TES

Topics: 3i comet mars nasa object

New Study Upends Origin Theory of Mysterious Interstellar Object

Ever since interstellar object 3I/ATLAS streaked into our solar system, astronomers have been scrambling to understand how this likely comet got here—and more importantly, perhaps, where it came from. As only the third interstellar object ever discovered, 3I/ATLAS offers a rare chance to study remnants of solar systems beyond our own, briefly bringing the distant galaxy within reach. But before we get into the new study, imagine the Milky Way as a kind of celestial sandwich: Inside is a thin d

Could We Probe an Interstellar Object Before It Zips Out of the Solar System?

In June, a mysterious object was spotted hurtling through the inner solar system on a hyperbolic path. It was later confirmed as an interstellar object, the third such entity from outside our solar system to be seen in the night skies. The rare discovery has prompted a scientific scramble to understand the object and its origins, including potential probes to study it up close. Scientists at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) put together a mission study that outlines how a spacecraft coul

Mysterious Object Headed Toward Mars

Incoming! Earlier this year, astronomers spotted a mysterious interstellar visitor, widely believed to be a comet, screaming into our solar system. With the help of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers recently got a closer look at the object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, that revealed an unexpectedly high ratio of carbon dioxide to water for a comet, as well as a highly irradiated ice core. Ever since astronomers spotted the object, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb has suggested the tantalizing pos

Topics: 3i atlas loeb mars object

Why this midrange Lenovo laptop is the one I recommend to most people

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15-inch ZDNET's key takeaways The IdeaPad Slim 3i is on sale at Costco for $669. It's an affordable 15-inch laptop with a full-size keyboard and nice selection of ports. The battery isn't spectacular, and its display is lackluster. View now at Costco Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. Lenovo's IdeaPad Slim 3i is an affordable, versatile laptop with a competent set of hardware for students or professionals. It's got a full-size keyboard (something tha

I've tested dozens of Lenovo laptops: Why this IdeaPad is my sleeper pick for most users

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15-inch ZDNET's key takeaways The IdeaPad Slim 3i is on sale at Costco for $669. It's an affordable 15-inch laptop with a full-size keyboard and nice selection of ports. The battery isn't spectacular, and its display is lackluster. View now at Costco Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. Lenovo's IdeaPad Slim 3i is an affordable, versatile laptop with a competent set of hardware for students or professionals. It's got a full-size keyboard (something tha

The James Webb Just Found Something Extremely Bizarre About the Mysterious Object Headed Into Our Inner Solar System

Our solar system's latest and only third known interstellar visitor is becoming more fascinating by the week. Spotted in early July, the object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, is widely believed to be a comet. It's traveling so fast that one look at its speed was enough to let astronomers know that it came from untold thousands of light years away. And it may even be older than our entire solar system. Now, the James Webb Space Telescope has turned its mighty eye — specifically, its Near-Infrared Spectrogra

Why I recommend this $700 Lenovo laptop to both college students and working professionals

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15-inch ZDNET's key takeaways The IdeaPad Slim 3i is on sale at Costco for $669. It's an affordable 15-inch laptop with a full-size keyboard and nice selection of ports. The battery isn't spectacular, and its display is lackluster. View now at Costco Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. Lenovo's IdeaPad Slim 3i is an affordable, versatile laptop with a competent set of hardware for students or professionals. It's got a full-size keyboard (something tha

Mysterious Object Headed for Inner Solar System Has Extremely Unusual Readings, James Webb Finds

Our solar system's latest and only third known interstellar visitor is becoming more fascinating by the week. Spotted in early July, the object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, is widely believed to be a comet. It's traveling so fast that one look at its speed was enough to let astronomers know that it came from untold thousands of light years away. And it may even be older than our entire solar system. Now, the James Webb Space Telescope has turned its mighty eye — specifically, its Near-Infrared Spectrogra

This Visiting Interstellar Comet Just Keeps Getting Weirder

Ever since interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS whizzed into our cosmic neighborhood in July, astronomers have been racing to uncover its characteristics. Now that the powerful James Webb Space Telescope has taken a good look at this icy interloper, it seems to be weirder than anyone imagined. A preprint submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters for peer review on Monday, August 25, describes the first results from JWST’s survey of 3I/ATLAS. A team of astronomers observed the comet with the telesc

Scientist Says Mysterious Object Approaching Earth May Be Alien Artifact

Mundane wayward space snowball, or extraterrestrial visitor? Astronomers believe that our solar system's latest and only third ever confirmed interstellar visitor, 3I/ATLAS, is almost certainly a comet. But lingering questions about the object means it's not yet an open and shut case. Amid that uncertainty, famed Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb is pushing the possibility that the interstellar interloper is an "extraterrestrial artifact" — perhaps even an "alien mothership" — here to menace or obse

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 — hurtling toward the center of the solar system. The object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, has caught the attention of Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who has a long track record of making controversial predictions about previous interstellar objects being relics from an extraterrestrial civilization. While there's been a growing consensus among astronomers that the latest object is a comet, Lo

Mysterious Object Hurtling Toward Us From Beyond Solar System Appears to Be Emitting Its Own Light, Scientists Say

Last month, astronomers made an exciting discovery, observing an interstellar object — only the third ever observed — hurtling toward the center of the solar system. The object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, has caught the attention of Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who has a long track record of making controversial predictions about previous interstellar objects being relics from an extraterrestrial civilization. While there's been a growing consensus among astronomers that the latest object is a comet, Lo

Astronomer Suggests New Interstellar Object Could be Advanced Aliens Testing Our Intelligence

A strange object hurdling through our solar system from interstellar space may, according to one of academia's most controversial astronomers, have been sent by aliens to see how smart we are. The newly-discovered object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, is only the third interstellar object of its kind to have been observed visiting our solar system. While most astronomers, including those at NASA, believe it to be a comet, Harvard's resident alien-hunter Avi Loeb has repeatedly suggested that it was sent to

Sharp Hubble Images Confirm 3I/Atlas as Comet

Astronomers at the Pan-STARRS Observatory in Hawaii made history in 2017 when they detected 'Oumuamua, the first interstellar object (ISO) ever observed. Two years later, the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov became the second ISO ever observed. And on July 1st, 2025, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Rio Hurtado detected a third interstellar object in our Solar System, the comet now known as 3I/ATLAS (or C/2025 N1 ATLAS). Like its predecessors, the arrival of this objec

Congressperson Urges NASA to Send Its Jupiter Probe Chasing in Pursuit of the Weird Visitor Coming From Interstellar Space

Earlier this year, astronomers spotted a mysterious interstellar object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, hurtling through the solar system at a blistering speed. It's only the third confirmed interstellar object to have ventured into our solar system — all over the past few years, owing to more sophisticated space-observing technology — and scientists are eager to have a closer look. Besides detailed observations by the Very Large Telescope in Chile and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, Harvard astronomer and a

Hubble Captures Glorious New Image of That Mysterious Object Cruising Into Our Solar System

As the mysterious interstellar object known as 3I/ATLAS plummets through our Solar System, NASA's good old Hubble Space Telescope has captured the best look yet at the interstellar visitor. On July 21, the interstellar interloper passed close enough to Earth — and to Hubble, which orbits us at about 320 miles above the planet — that the veteran space telescope was able to capture a surprisingly detailed image of it, NASA explains in a statement about the image. In the space agency's incredible

Scientists Just Found Something Very Weird About the Mysterious Object Hurtling Into Our Solar System

As evidence continues to mount that the mysterious object with interstellar origins currently speeding toward the inner solar system at a breakneck speed is a comet, not everybody's convinced quite yet. Harvard astronomer and alien hunter Avi Loeb raised the far-fetched, yet tantalizing possibility that the object, which was first spotted by astronomers earlier this year, could have been sent by an extraterrestrial civilization. While he admitted in a blog post last month that it's most likely

Existing NASA Spacecraft Could Intercept the Weird Interstellar Object Cruising Into Our Star System

Earlier this month, astronomers noticed a mysterious object speeding toward the inner solar system from outside of our star system. It's an exceedingly rare occurrence, marking only the third confirmed interstellar object to have ventured into our solar system, all of which have been detected since 2017. Harvard astronomer and alien hunter Avi Loeb was quick to raise the tantalizing — albeit admittedly far-fetched — possibility that the object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, could have been an alien probe s

Topics: 3i atlas juno loeb object

Scientist Suggests Tests to See if Large Object Headed Toward Earth Could Be an Alien Spacecraft

Earlier this month, astronomers made a fascinating discovery: a mysterious object with interstellar origins, now dubbed 3I/ATLAS, that's hurtling toward the inner solar system at extreme speeds. As scientists race to get a better understanding of the rare visitor — it's only the third confirmed interstellar object to have ventured into our solar system — some intriguing theories have emerged. One particularly eyebrow-raising possibility beyond the mainstream suggestions of it being either a co

A Rare Interstellar Object Is Zipping Through Our Solar System. This Brand-New Telescope Saw It First

Nearly a month ago, a mysterious object was seen hurtling through the solar system and later confirmed as an interstellar visitor traveling toward the Sun. Several telescopes have since turned their attention to the wandering object, but it turns out the brand-new Vera C. Rubin Observatory was the first to catch a glimpse of 3I/ATLAS. In an act of cosmic serendipity, astronomers pointed the Rubin Observatory toward the patch of sky where the interstellar object appeared during its commissioning

Hubble Snaps Photos of Interstellar Invader

The Hubble Space Telescope has snapped some spooky looking photos of our solar system's newest interstellar invader on the run. The object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, was first spotted careening through the outer limits of the Sun's domain earlier this month, and appears to be a comet. Upon closer inspection, its speed was found to be so incredible that there could be no doubt of its extrasolar origins, making it only the third detected interstellar object in history. Tantalizingly, it's hurtling straig

Interstellar Visitor Zipping Through Our Solar System Could Be a Hostile Probe, Alien-Hyping Scientists Warn

There’s a visitor in town, and its name is 3I/ATLAS. The presumed interstellar comet presents a rare opportunity for astronomers to study an object born a long time ago in a star system far, far away. But a new paper uploaded to the preprint arXiv server asks an intriguing question: Is the object actually alien technology? For Harvard astronomer and study co-author Abraham Loeb, this is not his first interstellar rodeo. In 2018, Loeb proposed that the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua might be an a

This waterproof speaker floats with you in the pool, but that isn't its best feature

Soundcore Boom 3i Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker ZDNET's key takeaways The Soundcore Boom 3i is available now on Amazon for $110. With some EQ tweaking, it produces better sound than you'd think for a waterproof speaker. The Boom 3i does float, but playing music while half-submerged doesn't sound the best. $129.99 at Amazon Vacation time is in full swing, which means you're probably heading to the great outdoors. When you're on the beach, fishing, swimming in a pool, or camping, you probably wa

Soundcore Boom 3i Review: A Seaworthy Bluetooth Speaker That Dunks on the Competition

2025 I love when gadgets have a schtick. Like Lenovo’s Tab Plus with an ungodly amount of JBL speakers, or Nothing’s Android phones with lights on the back. Schticks are great, and schticks that are practical and actually work are even better. For Soundcore’s $130 Boom 3i Bluetooth speaker, the schtick is all about throwing a speaker into water, which is unnatural for anyone familiar with how batteries work, but for the right person, might be kind of awesome. See Soundcore Boom 3i at Amazon L