Space & Astronomy

Avi Loeb: '3I/ATLAS may be delivering alien probes to Jupiter'

By T.K. Randall
November 24, 2025 ·  235 comments

Image: Artist's impression of the interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua
Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, ESO, M. Kornmesser / CC BY 4.0 (adapted) Hot on the heels of NASA's confirmation that 3I/ATLAS is a regular comet, Harvard's Prof Avi Loeb - who has long suggested that it could actually be an intelligently controlled extraterrestrial vehicle - now believes that the object is exhibiting a particularly unlikely interest in visiting Jupiter.

In a new blog entry, he explains that the object's trajectory so far seems to have put it on a direct path for Jupiter's radius of gravitational influence (also known as its Hill radius).

This is the boundary within which Jupiter's gravitational pull exceeds that of the Sun.

Loeb maintains that the previously observed non-gravitational acceleration of 3I/ATLAS seems to have placed it on a trajectory to reach Jupiter's Hill radius sometime around March 16, 2026.This, he claims, would perfectly position it if its intention was to release probes into Jovian orbit.

According to Loeb, such a move would indicate that the extraterrestrial civilization responsible for sending 3I/ATLAS must have a particular interest in investigating the gas giant.

The chance of all this happening by chance is reportedly in the region of 26,000 to 1.

But is this more a case of wishful thinking on Loeb's part than something that's actually likely to happen ?

Even if the object does reach the edge of Jupiter's Hill radius, the idea that it's going to suddenly release a small fleet of alien space probes seems like a stretch to say the least.

Source: Avi Loeb Medium | Comments (235)

Tags: Interstellar, Avi Loeb