Astronomers Just Found Something Very Wrong With 3I/ATLAS

On July 1st, astronomers detected a mysterious interstellar object passing through our solar system. Named 3I/ATLAS, it is only the third interstellar visitor humanity has ever observed, following ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.

ATLAS is not behaving like a typical comet. It shows a faint reddish glow, unusual orbital wobbles, and a spectrum that does not match the icy bodies we usually see. These strange features have led scientists to ask whether ATLAS could be more than just a comet.

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has even suggested that its small shifts in motion might resemble controlled movements. This connects to his earlier argument that ʻOumuamua could have been an alien lightsail.

In this video we explore what makes 3I/ATLAS so unusual, why some researchers take the alien probe hypothesis seriously, how upcoming telescopes like the Rubin Observatory LSST may discover dozens of new interstellar visitors, and what these mysteries mean for the question of whether we are alone in the universe.

Whether 3I/ATLAS is a comet, an anomaly, or even a cosmic Trojan Horse hiding advanced technology, it is a discovery that challenges our understanding of the cosmos.