Tag: space

‘Massive’ comet hurtling toward us is larger than previously thought, could be alien tech, scientist says: ‘It could change everything for us’

Scientists have discovered that the 3I/ATLAS — a Manhattan-sized interstellar object that potentially has alien tech — is much larger than previously thought, according to a new report.

First discovered by NASA on July 1, the cosmic anomaly has been under watch by Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb and his team as it shoots across the solar system. The object, which is believed to be a comet, reportedly has interstellar origins, making it the third ever object from beyond the solar system ever detected after ‘Oumuamua, which was discovered in 2017, and 2I/Borisov in 2019.

Now the team has gleaned some “sizable” new intel on the interstellar visitor, namely that the “mass of 3I/ATLAS must be bigger than 33 billion tons,” per a blog post by Loeb.

They arrived at this number by calculating the object’s trajectory to find that ATLAS’s “gravitational acceleration” is “smaller than 49 feet per day, squared,” Futurism reported.

This was then compared to how much mass it was shedding via gases and dust particles to determine the size.

Loeb and co. also found that the diameter of its solid-density nucleus must be larger than 3.1 miles — the upper limit of current projections that are based on observations by the Hubble Space Telescope.

This makes it larger than “three to five orders of magnitude” more massive than its predecessors, ‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov.

Keep reading

Unusual New 3I/ATLAS Discovery Suggests the Interstellar Comet is “Anomalously Massive”

The mysterious comet 3I/ATLAS appears to be extremely large, making it orders of magnitude more massive than two other confirmed interstellar objects observed in our solar system in years past, a new study suggests.

Based on a new analysis of the most precise tracking data collected on the object since its discovery in July, the interstellar comet appears to be “anomalously massive,” a finding that raises new questions regarding our expectations about interstellar objects that occasionally traverse our solar system.

The research was detailed in a new paper by Richard Cloete, Peter Vere, and Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, which places new limits on the object’s apparent non-gravitational acceleration and overall mass.

The new findings are largely consistent with existing upper estimates for the unusual space object’s size, with some recent observations suggesting it could be up to three miles long.

An “Anomalously Massive” Interstellar Object

More than four months of optical measurements collected on 3I/ATLAS, compiled by the Minor Planet Center, were used by the team for their analysis, which compared 3I/ATLAS’s position to the trajectory that would be expected based on gravity alone.

Based on their results, the team found almost no measurable deviation from a gravitational path, which seems to point to the fact that the interstellar comet is experiencing some degree of non-gravitational acceleration, albeit a negligible amount.

This finding would also seem to suggest that the object’s nucleus must possess a minimum diameter of roughly five kilometers (slightly more than three miles), which makes it several orders of magnitude more massive than the first two known interstellar objects, ʻOumuamua and Borisov.

Between May and September, more than 4,000 astrometric measurements related to the motion of 3I/ATLAS were collected from 227 observatories around the world. Based on this data, an upper limit on non-gravitational acceleration for the interstellar comet could be calculated, which was less than 15 meters per day squared.

According to the team’s study, this finding, with consideration for the principle of momentum conservation, suggests that gas jets produced on the surface of the object as it continues to be warmed by heat from the Sun should result in a measurable push. Based on current observations, however, the lack of detectable deviation exhibited by the object appears to imply that 3I/ATLAS is quite massive.

Keep reading

Resolute Space 2025: How the U.S. Space Force is Arming for Invisible Wars in the Stars

At Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, the U.S. Space Force launched its most ambitious training operation to date in July 2025.

Over 700 personnel, dubbed Guardians, teamed up with troops from allied nations to simulate battles in the vast emptiness above Earth.

This event, known as Resolute Space 2025, is aimed at preventing the rising danger of invisible assaults that could cripple global communications without firing a single shot.

The exercise began on July 8 and unfolded across multiple time zones, spanning roughly 50 million square miles. It integrated forces from about a dozen countries, including partners in Asia, Europe, and Australia, to practice seamless coordination.

The goal was to sharpen responses to disruptions in a chaotic setting, blending real-world assets with digital replicas for maximum authenticity.

In the scenarios, a designated aggressor group mimicked hostile nations by unleashing non-kinetic strikes on satellite networks. These included bursts of electronic static to drown out signals, sneaky hacks to spoof data feeds, and maneuvers to nudge orbits off course.

Defending teams raced to pinpoint the sources, restore functionality, and adapt tactics amid the fog of simulated chaos.

Orbital space previously served as a peaceful domain for navigation aids, intelligence gathering, and routine links between forces.

That illusion has shattered as countries have begun to explore space weaponry which could turn satellites into prime targets. Military planners now view the cosmos as a domain ripe for sabotage.

Adversaries like China and Russia have poured resources into tools that threaten U.S. assets without leaving debris trails. By mid-2025, China executed dozens of orbital missions, deploying over a hundred new objects to test grappling tech and signal blockers.

Russia, meanwhile, has experimented with nuclear options and co-orbital chasers that could shadow or disable enemy craft, fueling fears of rapid escalation.

Experts note these developments proceed at an alarming speed, outpacing Western defenses and risking a cascade of satellite failures.

The Space Force, established just six years prior, is exploring tactics to navigate these new challenges. Exercises like Resolute Space 2025 enhance the U.S.’s capabilities through flexible doctrines and cross-service teamwork necessarily to counter such evolving threats.

Keep reading

‘City killer’ asteroid 2024 YR4 could shower Earth with ‘bullet-like’ meteors if it hits the moon in 2032

New simulations reveal that the infamous “city killer” asteroid 2024 YR4 could shower Earth with “bullet-like” debris if it hits the moon in seven years’ time, potentially triggering an eye-catching meteor shower — and endangering the satellites that orbit our planet.

2024 YR4 is a potentially hazardous asteroid measuring roughly 200 feet (60 meters) across, making it large enough to wipe out a large urban area if it were to hit Earth head-on. It was first discovered in December 2024 but made headlines earlier this year when scientists first predicted that there was a chance it could smash into Earth on Dec. 22, 2032. The odds of a collision peaked at 3.1% in February, which was enough to prompt NASA to study it extensively. However, subsequent analysis revealed there is zero chance of it impacting our planet.

But in April, researchers realized that, while Earth is no longer in the firing line, the space rock could still hit the moon. The odds of such a collision have grown slowly but steadily, and most recently jumped to 4.3% earlier this month. Experts will likely know the final likelihood by 2028, when the asteroid will make its next close approach to our planet.

Keep reading

Astronomers uncover a hidden world on the solar system’s edge

A small team led by Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member in the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Natural Sciences, has discovered an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object (TNO), named 2017 OF201, at the edge of our solar system.

The TNO is potentially large enough to qualify as a dwarf planet, the same category as the much more well-known Pluto. The new object is one of the most distant visible objects in our solar system and, significantly, suggests that the empty section of space thought to exist beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt is not, in fact, empty at all.

Cheng made the discovery alongside colleagues Jiaxuan Li and Eritas Yang from Princeton University, using advanced computational methods to identify the object’s distinctive trajectory pattern on the sky. The new object was officially announced by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center and in an arXiv pre-print.

Trans-Neptunian objects are minor planets that orbit the Sun at a greater average distance than the orbit of Neptune. The new TNO is special for two reasons: its extreme orbit and its large size.

“The object’s aphelion — the farthest point on the orbit from the Sun — is more than 1600 times that of the Earth’s orbit,” explains Cheng. “Meanwhile, its perihelion — the closest point on its orbit to the Sun — is 44.5 times that of the Earth’s orbit, similar to Pluto’s orbit.”

This extreme orbit, which takes the object approximately 25,000 years to complete, suggests a complex history of gravitational interactions. “It must have experienced close encounters with a giant planet, causing it to be ejected to a wide orbit,” says Yang. “There may have been more than one step in its migration. It’s possible that this object was first ejected to the Oort cloud, the most distant region in our solar system, which is home to many comets, and then sent back,” Cheng adds.

“Many extreme TNOs have orbits that appear to cluster in specific orientations, but 2017 OF201 deviates from this,” says Li. This clustering has been interpreted as indirect evidence for the existence of another planet in the solar system, Planet X or Planet Nine, which could be gravitationally shepherding these objects into their observed patterns. The existence of 2017 OF201 as an outlier to such clustering could potentially challenge this hypothesis.

Keep reading

Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS updates: Will we intercept it?

Will we send a spacecraft to intercept 3I/ATLAS?

Scientists first spotted 3I/ATLAS, the 3rd interstellar visitor ever identified in our solar system, in early July 2025. And since then, one question has been asked countless times: will we send out a spacecraft to take a closer look? On August 21, EarthSky’s Will Triggs spoke to University of Edinburgh astronomer Colin Snodgrass to find out the answer. Plus, Colin talked about ESA’s Comet Interceptor, an upcoming spacecraft that will be primed to intercept future interstellar objects. Watch in the player above, or on YouTube.

3I/ATLAS shrinks again

On August 7, 2025, NASA shared a new image of 3I/ATLAS (above) – the world’s 3rd known interstellar object – as well as provided an updated estimate of the size of the object’s nucleus, or core. Shortly after the object was first identified on July 1, 2025, 3I/ATLAS was estimated to have a diameter of about 20 km (12 miles). Then in late July – using data from the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile – the size estimate dropped to 10 km (6 miles). The latest analysis uses data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It reduces the estimated diameter of 3I/ATLAS’s nucleus still further, to 5.6 km (3.5 miles).

And, the astronomers using Hubble data said, the object could be even smaller, as small as 320 meters (1,050 feet) across!

Plus, as you can see from the image, 3I/ ATLAS is looking more and more comet-like as it approaches our sun. It’s currently between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

The two previous known interstellar objects are 1I/ ‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. ‘Oumuamua’s size is thought to be about 200 meters across at its widest (you’ll recall it has an elongated shape). And Borisov is thought to be less than a kilometer across.

Keep reading

3I/ATLAS Was Just Spotted by the James Webb Telescope, Confirming an Odd New Discovery About the Strange Interstellar Comet

An unusual interstellar visitor speeding through our solar system was recently spotted by the powerful eye of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

The American space agency revealed this week that its premier space observatory had captured new images of the comet, known as 3I/ATLAS, on August 6, 2025, using its Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument.

Since that time, NASA researchers have been studying data collected about the object during Webb’s observations, with the latest insights appearing in a new preprint paper. The latest observations provide further confirmation that 3I/ATLAS is producing a large carbon dioxide-rich cloud of material around the object, commonly referred to as its coma.

Carbon Dioxide in Abundance

The unusual carbon dioxide abundance, previously detected in observations by NASA’s SPHEREx mission, is accompanied by traces of water, carbon monoxide, sulfur compounds, water ice, and an abundance of dust, according to the new findings made possible by Webb.

In the new paper by co-author Martin Cordiner and colleagues, 3I/ATLAS’s unusual ratio of carbon dioxide to water vapor is also noted as having been one of the highest ever measured in a comet. This is significant, as it suggests that 3I/ATLAS is quite distinct from the types of comets that originate within our Solar System.

Keep reading

Harvard Astrophysicist Fans Alien Speculation After Detecting Odd Energy Signature on Interstellar Object

Astronomers detected the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS on July 1, 2025, using the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System telescope in Chile.

This marks the third confirmed interstellar visitor to our solar system, following ‘Oumuamua in 2017 and Borisov in 2019. NASA has classified it as a comet, estimating its size at 10 to 24 kilometers in diameter.

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has analyzed images showing an unusual glow at the object’s front rather than a trailing tail typical of comets.

He argues this brightness cannot result from reflected sunlight or standard outgassing of volatiles like water or carbon dioxide.

Loeb’s calculations indicate the luminosity reaches gigawatt levels, which he attributes to a possible internal power source.

Loeb has ruled out natural explanations such as a primordial black hole, which would produce negligible energy, or frictional heating from interstellar medium due to insufficient density.

He also dismisses a supernova radioactive fragment as statistically improbable. Instead, he proposes nuclear power as the most feasible compact source for the observed energy output.

In a paper co-authored with Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl, Loeb suggests 3I/ATLAS could be an artificial spacecraft, potentially accumulating interstellar dust that emits forward under nuclear propulsion.

The object travels at approximately 210,000 kilometers per hour, the fastest recorded for a solar system visitor.

Spectral data show no cometary gases, and some observations lack a clear tail, though image smearing from motion complicates analysis.

The object’s trajectory originates from the Milky Way’s thick disk, possibly making it up to 7 billion years old, older than our solar system.

It follows a retrograde orbit aligned within 5 degrees of the ecliptic plane, passing close to Venus at 0.65 astronomical units, Mars at 0.19 AU, and Jupiter at 0.36 AU. Loeb calculates the probability of such alignments at 0.005 percent for random arrivals.

Loeb notes the perihelion on October 29, 2025, occurs opposite Earth relative to the Sun, at about 130 million miles away, potentially shielding it from detailed Earth-based observation.

Keep reading

US Space Command Prepares For Satellite Vs. Satellite Combat

Late last year, an American military satellite and a French counterpart carried out a delicate orbital maneuver that signals a new phase in U.S. space operations. The two conducted a rendezvous and proximity operation (RPO) near an undisclosed foreign satellite (likely Russian), testing the ability to approach, inspect, and potentially manipulate another nation’s asset.

According to General Stephen Whiting, head of U.S. Space Command, the exercise demonstrated close coordination with France and reflected growing threats in orbit. “The French have talked about Russian maneuvers [near French satellites] over the years,” Gen. Whiting said. “And so…we demonstrated that we could both maneuver satellites near each other and near other countries’ satellites in a way that signaled our ability to operate well together.”

The success of the exercise, the first of its kind between the U.S. and a country outside the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, has prompted plans to repeat it later this year, according to The Economist.

Space Command, re-established in 2019 during President Donald Trump’s first term, has largely focused until now on building its headquarters and expanding staff. Gen. Whiting says that phase is over. “We now have a combatant command focused on war fighting in space,” he said.

Two developments are driving that shift:

  • Rising reliance on satellites for military operations. Gen. Whiting noted that America’s strike on Iran in June was “space enabled.”
  • Expanding threats from China and Russia. Since 2015, Chinese satellite launches have increased eightfold, and Beijing’s capabilities now surpass Russia’s, U.S. officials say. China, Russia, and India have all tested destructive anti-satellite weapons, and Washington accuses Moscow of developing an orbital nuclear weapon capable of disabling thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites.

Guess we don’t have space lasers after all?

Keep reading

Mysterious Object Hurtling Toward Us From Beyond Solar System Appears to Be Emitting Its Own Light, Scientists Find

Last month, astronomers made an exciting discovery, observing an interstellar object — only the third ever observed — hurtling toward the center of the solar system.

The object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, has caught the attention of Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who has a long track record of making controversial predictions about previous interstellar objects being relics from an extraterrestrial civilization.

While there’s been a growing consensus among astronomers that the latest object is a comet, Loeb has continued to entertain the idea that it may have been sent to us by an intelligent species from outside of the solar system — and he’s far from backing down.

In a blog post over the weekend, Loeb pointed to observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which showed a “glow of light, likely from a coma, ahead of the motion of 3I/ATLAS towards the Sun.”

A coma is the hazy and luminous cloud that surrounds the nucleus of a comet.

However, there’s “no evidence for a bright cometary tail in the opposite direction,” he wrote, with scientists suggesting it was evidence that dust was evaporating from the object’s Sun-facing side.

The observations led Loeb and his colleagues to an intriguing, albeit far-fetched possibility: is the mysterious space object generating “its own light?”

After deliberations with his colleague and Harvard astrophysicist Eric Keto, Loeb suggested that the “simplest interpretation” of 3I/ATLAS’ observed “steep brightness profile” is that its nucleus “produces most of the light.”

That would also mean that its actual size is much smaller than currently thought, roughly in line with the size of the first two interstellar objects we’ve observed, ‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov.

The Harvard astronomer suggested two possibilities: either 3I/ATLAS is naturally emitting radiation because its a “rare fragment from the core of a nearby supernova that is rich in radioactive material” — or it’s 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.”

Loeb deemed the former explanation “highly unlikely,” and the latter as requiring “better evidence to be viable.”

Loeb previously argued that the object’s unusual trajectory — which includes suspiciously close flybys of both Earth and Jupiter — and its lack of a visible tail both undermine the theory that it’s a comet.

Keep reading