Extraterrestrial

Mystery as potential alien visitor seems to be emitting its own light

By T.K. Randall
August 20, 2025

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) This mysterious cosmic interloper was first revealed on July 1st following its discovery by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) - a robotic astronomical survey which uses multiple telescopes to scan the night sky for small near-Earth objects.

Estimated to be 12 miles across, the object is heading toward the inner solar system at 152,000 mph.

While many scientists believe that 3I/ATLAS is likely to be a comet, others, such as Harvard's Professor Avi Loeb, maintain that it could in fact be under intelligent extraterrestrial control.

Now, new evidence has suggested that the object - whatever it is - is actually emitting its own light.

This, according to Loeb, could mean that it is in fact a lot smaller than previously thought - perhaps as little as 100 meters across.The Harvard astronomer believes that this adds further credence to the idea that it is an artificially constructed object - perhaps an extraterrestrial vehicle with a nuclear core.

"A natural nuclear source could be a rare fragment from the core of a nearby supernova that is rich in radioactive material," Loeb wrote.

"This possibility is highly unlikely, given the scarce reservoir of radioactive elements in interstellar space."

"Alternatively, 3I/ATLAS could be a spacecraft powered by nuclear energy, and the dust emitted from its frontal surface might be from dirt that accumulated on its surface during its interstellar travel."

"This cannot be ruled out, but requires better evidence to be viable."

Source: New York Post

Tags: Interstellar, Avi Loeb