Space & Astronomy

Interstellar visitor shows 'signature of industrial production'

By T.K. Randall
August 29, 2025 ·  42 comments

Image: Artist's impression of the interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua
Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, ESO, M. Kornmesser / CC BY 4.0 (adapted) The object known as 3I/ATLAS 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.

Believed to measure 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 a new paper analyzing spectroscopic data recorded by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) has highlighted a peculiar anomaly in the plume of gas surrounding the object.

Most notably, it seems to contain nickel but not iron which, according to Loeb, is something you would typically expect to see in the industrial production of nickel alloys."Natural comets generically show iron and nickel simultaneously, as both elements are produced together in the ejecta of supernova explosions," he wrote.

"Is this anomaly another clue for a possible technological origin of 3I/ATLAS? The paper suggests chemical formation through the nickel carbonyl channel which is an extremely rare and exotic possibility in comets, whereas it is a standard technology for industrial nickel refining."

So could this be further evidence that 3I/ATLAS was artificially constructed ?

"On the one hand I would be pleased if 3I/ATLAS turned out to be a CO2-rich comet, implying that humanity is not at risk from alien technology," Loeb wrote.

"But on the other hand - humanity desperately needs a wake-up call to avoid self-destruction."

Source: Avi Loeb Medium | Comments (42)

Tags: Interstellar, Avi Loeb