what is happening to 3I Atlas?

[Judge]

It's interesting, whatever it may be....

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

All I can say Is Wow. What happens when a bunch of Aspies get together not trusting the NT's.

 

[Hypnalis]

It's too soon to draw conclusions.

If a small telescope saw something, the big ones will see it much more clearly.
The professionals will have to check everything with each other, and won't make a claim they're not sure of. But there will be information from a serious sources fairly soon.

If I was betting I'd go with this being a fake or a false positive along with some contagious wishful thinking.

Same logic as before:
* If aliens wanted to advertise their presence, they'd make it far more obvious. A stronger, longer-lasting, unambiguous signal (e.g. encoding a few digits of pi), and it wouldn't be hard to observe.
* If they want to "hide", a flash of light at (actually near AFAIK) perihelion would be stupid.

We'll know soon enough.

 

[Shamar]

It's too soon to draw conclusions.

If a small telescope saw something, the big ones will see it much more clearly.
The professionals will have to check everything with each other, and won't make a claim they're not sure of. But there will be information from a serious sources fairly soon.

If I was betting I'd go with this being a fake or a false positive along with some contagious wishful thinking.

Same logic as before:
* If aliens wanted to advertise their presence, they'd make it far more obvious. A stronger, longer-lasting, unambiguous signal (e.g. encoding a few digits of pi), and it wouldn't be hard to observe.
* If they want to "hide", a flash of light at (actually near AFAIK) perihelion would be stupid.

We'll know soon enough.

The breakup just after perihelion (closest point to the Sun) tells us a lot. Spaceships do not break apart under those conditions. The spectra showing large amounts of iron and nickle, with little water or carbon dioxide, indicates this was a metallic asteroid, similar to asteroid 16 Psyche. The fact that it broke apart indicates the structure was of a "rubble pile" type, similar to Bennu or Ryugu. I don't know how a metallic rubble pile asteroid could form (this is a bit beyond my area of expertise), but apparently it did. At any rate, this whole episode is VERY interesting.

 

[Hypnalis]

The breakup just after perihelion (closest point to the Sun) tells us a lot. Spaceships do not break apart under those conditions. The spectra showing large amounts of iron and nickle, with little water or carbon dioxide, indicates this was a metallic asteroid, similar to asteroid 16 Psyche. The fact that it broke apart indicates the structure was of a "rubble pile" type, similar to Bennu or Ryugu. I don't know how a metallic rubble pile asteroid could form (this is a bit beyond my area of expertise), but apparently it did. At any rate, this whole episode is VERY interesting.

Definitely interesting!

Did it completely break apart, or was it a small amount of "rubble" relative to the whole comet?
I tried to watch a video, but they started making a big deal about the "breakup" it being suspiciously symmetrical, so I decided to wait.

Hopefully someone will make a 100% serious video about it after the "alien spaceship question" has been conclusively resolved

If you have or find some information about how it might have formed and found its way into interstellar space I'd be interested to get a link.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I going to rely on my fellow Aspies as peers to review what comes out today separate B.S., from truth. I do not trust The AI generated stuff, pick up on the mistakes it makes like pronunciation errors .

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Trust this guy a bit more at least not AI generated, he is a bit of a flake, probably one of us.

 

[Shamar]

Definitely interesting!

Did it completely break apart, or was it a small amount of "rubble" relative to the whole comet?
I tried to watch a video, but they started making a big deal about the "breakup" it being suspiciously symmetrical, so I decided to wait.

Hopefully someone will make a 100% serious video about it after the "alien spaceship question" has been conclusively resolved

If you have or find some information about how it might have formed and found its way into interstellar space I'd be interested to get a link.

Things seem to be in a decided state of flux. Translation: nobody has a clue just what the hell is going on. The latest seems to be that the pieces might be best described as "shards," pieced that broke of from the main body. One thing everyone appears to agree on is that this is not a comet, but more akin to a metallic asteroid.

I expect that at any moment, Avi Loeb will state (speculate without any actual evidence) that this is a mother ship which sent out secondary craft to rendezvous with Jupiter.

Another example of "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we CAN imagine"

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Avi so far is a scientist with integrity, conjectures rather than speculates, I respect that a lot. Michio Kaku likes to speculate more frequently. which is OK, getting closer to the line. Jupiter is unlikely to be of interest, lots of hydrogen balls elsewhere it's moons different story, Sure could us the nickel.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

getting weirder,

 

[Cyber]

Ok two highly strange anomalies observed a few hours ago

1. 3I Atlas has turned a glowing blue meaning it has absorbed heat from the sun but instead of turning red it has gone superhot blue (equivalent to the sun) which is impossible according to the laws of physics for an object that size.
2. there is evidence for a non-gravitational trajectory change detected
this now reminds me of a mobile Dyson Sphere that intentionally entered our solar system in order to absorb energy from our sun
Meanwhile NASA is sitting on vital data which it continues to refuse to share....

 

[Jumpinbare]

Super small for a Dyson Sphere (which would have an actual star in its center).

 

[Outdated]

BTW - given how much empty space there is in our local galaxy, and how little matter in comparison, you wouldn't expect randomly travelling interstellar objects to turn up very often in our solar system.

Agreed, but at the same time the law of averages says it must happen now and then.

Other than that it seems to be a very ordinary and not very exciting long distance comet that's behaving in a very comet like manner.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck....

 

[Hypnalis]

Agreed, but at the same time the law of averages says it must happen now and then.

True, but should it be once in a million years (in which case 3 in 8 years would be a lot) or one every 5 years or so (so about what we've seen so far).

If they're common, it would be possible to send a probe to one in a few decades. Very expensive though.

OFC if ATLAS is a sensor probe, and it was sent down our radio signals by belligerent aliens, our first interaction might be the effects of a "planet-busting" weapon fired from a real spaceship.
That would resolve all human problems simultaneously, not least the currently popular interest in the possible existence of extra-terrestrial life

 

[Cyber]

Agreed, but at the same time the law of averages says it must happen now and then.

Other than that it seems to be a very ordinary and not very exciting long distance comet that's behaving in a very comet like manner.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck....

If this is a comet then it's the most anomalous object currently in our solar system. Let me list the anamolies
1. Size: The diameter of 3I/ATLAS is larger than 5 kilometers, making its minimum mass of 33 billion tons, larger by a factor of a thousand to a million than the mass of the second and first interstellar objects
2. Jet: The Hubble image of 3I/ATLAS showed a forward jet of scattered sunlight — 10 times longer than it is wide, pointing towards the Sun. A weak tail showed up only at the end of August
3. Unusual chemical composition: the plume of gas around 3I/ATLAS showed much more nickel than iron as in industrial nickel alloys. Unlike solar system comets, the plume contained mostly carbon dioxide and not water.
4. Polarization: the light from 3I/ATLAS showed extreme negative polarization
5. The trajectory of 3I/ATLAS is aligned with the ecliptic plane of planets around the Sun to within 5 degrees (0.2% likelihood)
6. The arrival time of 3I/ATLAS was optimized to pass near Mars, Venus and Jupiter (0.005% likelihood)
7. The arrival direction of 3I/ATLAS is aligned to within 9 degrees with the “Wow! Signal” from August 15, 1977
8. Atlas changed colour 3I/ATLAS comet has changed color, turning green in September 2025 and it became more active and longer as it approached the Sun https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/3i-atlas-gemini-south
9. As Atlas approached the sun it's Jet (2) suddenly moved away from the sun and prior to this anomalous asteroid like objects were detected following 3I Atlas
and now Number 10 - It has turned blue around its perihelion in late October 2025.
3I/ATLAS turns blue and bright: Could a 'hot engine' or 'artificial light' be the source?

Add to all this drama you have NASA deciding to have a shutdown several days before it got to Mars inexplicably suppressing high resolution images from the public for almost a month. If I was a cynic then NASA know this is no ordinary comet and are taking precaution to vet the high res images to make sure it doesn't cause panic.

 

[Cyber]

Number 11 the sun ejected a massive solar flare, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), that impacted 3I/ATLAS as it passed ethe sun. This was a rare and powerful event, as the interstellar object was hit by the surge of plasma and magnetic fields as it passed through the solar system.