- Статьи
- Science and technology
- Stellar Oddity: Signs of an alien ship found near Comet 3I/ATLAS again
Stellar Oddity: Signs of an alien ship found near Comet 3I/ATLAS again
On March 16, the mysterious interstellar object 3I/ATLAS will approach Jupiter at a minimum distance, after which it will leave the Solar System forever. The famous astrophysicist Avi Loeb discovered signs in the comet that are very similar to the operation of engines. Images from the Hubble telescope show symmetrical jets of gas oriented towards the Sun and stabilizing the body's position in space. Attention to the topic of UFOs has increased after the promise of the US president to disclose information from the Pentagon about extraterrestrial life. As Avi Loeb stated in an exclusive interview with Izvestia, the search for alien intelligence in the universe should become the main task of modern science, since in the future such a meeting could lead to the end of civilization. Similar studies are already underway in our country, Russian astronomers confirm.
Signs of a spacecraft at 3I/ATLAS
On March 16, the interstellar traveler 3I/ATLAS will reach the pericenter of its orbit relative to Jupiter, approaching the planet at a minimum distance. After that, the unique celestial body will head beyond the Solar System, never to return.
Avi Loeb, a famous American astrophysicist and professor at Harvard University, has discovered new signs of an artificial origin of an interstellar comet. His research, carried out together with colleagues from Italy, showed that three so—called jets - jets of gas, dust and ice ejected by the comet — form a symmetrical system around its core. At the same time, they oscillate rhythmically with a period of about seven hours and are clearly oriented relative to the Sun, stabilizing the comet's position in space. In fact, it resembles the operation of engines.
"We are using images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope to study the motion of a symmetrical system of three jets around the core of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. The most noticeable of the three jets is directed in the opposite direction from the Sun and, apparently, oscillates with a period of 7.20 (± 0.05) hours <...>. Fluctuations around the axis of rotation demonstrate a characteristic angular deviation of about 20 degrees, while the axis of rotation is aligned towards the Sun with an accuracy of 20 degrees." — the scientist noted in his blog.
According to him, the fundamental question of whether a symmetrical jet system can be considered a sign of technological engines or whether it is the result of the sublimation of natural ice pockets on the surface of a natural object has not yet been resolved.
Avi Loeb is the author of a large number of papers on comet 3I/ATLAS. During his research, he discovered more than 15 signs that are very unlikely to form in natural objects. For example, it has a so-called anti-tail pointing towards the Sun, and not away from it, like most comets.
According to Stanislav Korotkov, scientific director of the Ka-Dar Observatory, the data on the jets presented by Avi Loeb look reliable. However, the Hubble telescope observed 3I/ATLAS for only a few days, and the direction of the jets may be random.
— We do not know the power of these jets and how constant they are. The telescope did not observe 3I/ATLAS all the time for a month, but only one or two nights. Maybe they were just lucky, and they caught exactly those moments when the comet stabilized," the astronomer explained.
Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1, 2025. This is the third interstellar object that has reached the Solar System from the far corners of space. On December 19, it passed at the closest distance from Earth, about 269 million km. Its age, according to scientists, may be more than 7 billion years old. At the moment of maximum approach to the Sun, the speed reached about 246 thousand km/h. The object is moving in an open orbit. Now he is moving away from the Earth and will never return. In mid-March, the comet will pass at a minimum distance from Jupiter, where there are research devices that will allow us to obtain new data.
The X-Files
Interest in the search for "aliens" intensified after US President Donald Trump publicly promised to declassify intelligence data related to this topic.
"I will instruct the Secretary of Defense and relevant departments and agencies to begin the process of identifying and disclosing government documents about extraterrestrial and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena and unidentified flying objects, as well as any other information related to these extremely complex but extremely interesting and important issues," the head of the White House wrote on the Truth Social network..
As Avi Loeb said in an exclusive interview with Izvestia, it is very unlikely that the declassified data may contain anything new about 3I/ATLAS.
— This is unlikely, since any such information would contradict the official version of NASA. This may be data on unidentified anomalous phenomena, namely objects in the sky or oceans that behave beyond the capabilities of man—made technologies," he noted.
According to Avi Loeb, the 3I/ATLAS research is of fundamental importance: if the artificial origin and connection with extraterrestrial intelligence are confirmed, this event may become a "black swan" for human civilization.
— In the Milky Way galaxy, there are billions of analogues of the Earth and the Sun, most of which are billions of years older than the Solar system. Science should engage in a targeted search for extraterrestrial technological artifacts. That's why I'm participating in this project, hoping to find a partner on our "blind date" with interstellar objects," the scientist added.
According to him, a full-fledged scientific search for technological objects actually began with the opening of 3I/ATLAS, the launch of the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile, and the construction of three Galileo observatories focused on searching for signs of extraterrestrial life.
How scientists are searching for extraterrestrial intelligence
According to Alexander Panov, a leading researcher at the Skobeltsyn Research Institute of Nuclear Physics at Moscow State University, one should not expect sensations from the possible disclosure of data by the Americans. The only object of scientific interest in this context, he calls the interstellar asteroid Oumuamua, discovered in 2017. By its properties, it resembles a fragment of alien space debris, but evidence of its artificial origin has not yet been obtained. Avi Loeb dedicated a separate book to this object.
— The TAIGA-HiSCORE project continues to be implemented in Russia, as part of which signals from alien lasers are being searched for in a wide field of view. The observations have already been processed and the results published for four years, the materials for two more years have also been analyzed and are currently being prepared for publication. So far, no signals have been found. The Academy of Sciences is implementing another program to search for optical and radio signals from several terrestrial planets located in the habitable zone. Also, so far to no avail," said the scientist.
Tunka-HiSCORE photosensors at the astrophysical range of Irkutsk State University in the Tunka Valley
A wide-field signal search using a phased array radio grid was conducted under the auspices of the Breakthrough Foundation. However, we are talking about low frequencies, which are of little use for interstellar communication and are traditionally considered unpromising for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. To continue the work, according to the expert, it is necessary to estimate the cost of building a more sensitive analog for wide-field radio search in a different frequency range.
According to him, work is underway in parallel on the international Panoramic SETI project, a tool for searching for signals from extraterrestrial lasers in a wide field of view with characteristics slightly superior to the domestic TAIGA-HiSCORE. So far, the project is at the prototype testing stage, and the timing of its full capacity remains uncertain.
— A detailed survey of the Moon's surface could be extremely useful to search for possible technosignatures — measurable traces of extraterrestrial intelligence activity. Such traces can persist for millions of years: there is no wind or rain on the Earth's satellite. This requires photo maps with a resolution of about 0.5 m," said Alexander Panov.
As the scientist emphasized, such photographic materials already exist, but their analysis requires a specialized AI-based program. We are talking about millions of images. Work in this area began several years ago, but no results have been reported so far.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
