A visitor From beyond the solar system arrives, not as a warning of destruction, but as a signal of revelation.
Update on 31/Atlas: Something about 3I/ATLAS feels different. Let's start with Bulgarian Baba Vanga who gained fame for her alleged psychic abilities. Many of Baba Vanga’s forecasts have seemed to come true over the years. She foretold that humanity would make contact with extraterrestrial life in 2025.
Interest in Vanga’s prophecy resurfaced after the discovery of 3I/ATLAS. Its unusual trajectory and behavior have fueled speculation that the object might be a spacecraft rather than a natural interstellar vivitor. The online buzz isn’t hard to understand: observers have pointed to a string of odd, apparently illogical behaviors during the object’s journey that set it apart from familiar comets and asteroids.
Tension increased when 3I/ATLAS passed near Mars on October 3 and no images or data from NASA’s Mars orbiters were released to the public. Officially this gap in public releases has been attributed to a government shutdown, but the absence of visible data has opened the door for questions about what, if anything, agencies might be withholding.
Around the same time, the International Astronomical Union, via Harvard’s Minor Planet Center and on behalf of NASA’s International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), quietly placed 3I/ATLAS under a planetary defense–level observation campaign, described internally as a “training and astrometry exercise.” That formal designation, the first time an interstellar object has been tracked under such a campaign, has been read by some as evidence the object behaves anomalously.
Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb has amplified the debate with high-profile commentary, published on his blog, since 3I/ATLAS was discovered. He’s advanced the provocative suggestion that there might be a substantial chance the object is artificial, at times stating a roughly 40% probability of technological origin, while also acknowledging it could be an unusually strange interstellar comet. Loeb has warned of a scenario in which a technological artifact from interstellar space might, at perihelion, deploy mini-probes toward Earth.
The perihelion occurred on October 29, 2025, a timing that adds to the intrigue because the object was largely hidden from Earth based observatories while closest to the Sun, the optimum moment for an unobserved gravitational or propulsion maneuver. In astrodynamics, firing near perihelion can produce outsized changes in velocity through the Oberth effect, which is why some observers have speculated about the possibility of a covert acceleration or probe deployment at that time.
Avi Loeb points to eight anomalous properties of 3I/ATLAS that, taken together, earned it a 4/10 on the Loeb Scale for potential technological origin:
1. Orbit alignment — a trajectory within 5° of the Solar System’s ecliptic, said to be rare.
2. Anti-tail formation — a sunward jet observed in July–August 2025 unlike ordinary cometary features.
3. Mass and speed — a nucleus reportedly far more massive and faster than known interstellar objects.
4. Precise timing — an arrival that grazed Mars, Venus, and Jupiter while hiding at perihelion.
5. Chemical composition — reports of nickel enrichment in its gas plume at levels described as industrial.
6. Water deficiency — a plume with only about 4% water by mass, unusually low for a comet.
7. Polarization — extreme negative polarization not previously seen in cometary science.
8. Origin direction — an incoming vector within roughly 9° of the “Wow! Signal” direction.
With the object having passed perihelion, many people are watching for signs of non-gravitational acceleration, unexpected emissions of light, or excess heat that could hint at engine activity or an artificial source.
Breaking update as of October 31, 2025:
1. Rapid brightening: 3I/ATLAS brightened much faster than typical Oort cloud comets near perihelion— cause remains unknown.
2. Blue color: It appeared bluer than the Sun, contradicting the expected reddening effect of cometary dust — now listed as the 9th anomaly.
3. Non-Gravitational acceleration: Detected near perihelion, indicating motion not explained by gravity alone.
4. Possible technological signature: The acceleration and blue emission could suggest an internal propulsion system or artificial light source rather than natural outgassing.
That raises the central question: was Baba Vanga right, are we on the cusp of real alien contact in which 3I/ATLAS plays a role? We’ll see how things unfold over the next few months as 3I/ATLAS continues its journey through our solar system.