3i/Atlas – We don’t know what is out there..
By Jami Hossain
3I/ATLAS, the interstellar comet currently moving through the inner Solar System, has drawn global scientific attention. After passing the Sun, it will soon make its closest approach to Earth before continuing outward on its hyperbolic escape trajectory. Based on current assessments, 3I/ATLAS likely originated in the Milky Way’s thick disk, a region populated by ancient stars and long-evolved stellar debris. If this is correct, then with a transit velocity of roughly 60 km/s relative to the Sun, the comet could have been travelling for six billion years—longer than the Sun itself has existed.
In a galaxy as vast and active as ours, six billion years is an extraordinary span. One possibility is that the comet truly began its journey in the thick disk. Another is that it originated in a nearer stellar neighbourhood but entered the Solar System with a trajectory and velocity that mimic a more distant origin. Whatever the case, several profound questions arise.
The first concerns survival. For an object roughly the size of a major city, how did 3I/ATLAS remain intact over billions of years? To traverse the galaxy—through dense star fields, molecular clouds, planetary systems, supernova remnants, and countless gravitational perturbations—without fragmentation is statistically remarkable. Yet it arrived in a single coherent piece, erupting into a dramatic plume of outgassing as it passed near the Sun.
Alongside the scientific intrigue, a public controversy has emerged:
Is 3I/ATLAS a natural comet, or could it be something artificial?
Avi Loeb, Baird Professor of Science and Institute Director at Harvard University, has identified twelve anomalies in the behaviour of 3I/ATLAS that do not fit the standard comet model. Most scientists, however, maintain that it is a conventional interstellar comet. The question of artificiality is often dismissed out of habit—because no alien spacecraft has ever been confirmed, the default assumption is that none exist.
But this is not a logically rigorous position. The Milky Way contains 100–400 billion stars. The observable universe contains two trillion galaxies, giving an estimated 10²⁴ stars—more than all the grains of sand on Earth. The probability that our Sun is unique in hosting intelligent life is effectively zero. If other planetary systems exist—and if even one contains an advanced civilisation—then the possibility of artificial objects also exists. Rejecting the idea a priori is not scientific.
With 3I/ATLAS specifically, Loeb’s twelve anomalies invite careful examination, even if one ultimately accepts the natural model. The relevant publications are available for those who wish to evaluate the arguments directly here.
In a related CEPA post, we explored a rational scenario: If an extraterrestrial civilisation wished to explore another solar system discreetly, it would likely choose camouflage rather than spectacle. A brilliant metallic spacecraft would be an irrational choice. A comet-like object, by contrast, is ideal—common, expected, and capable of displaying irregularities without provoking alarm.
Comets are ubiquitous throughout the cosmos. When captured by a star’s gravity, they follow elliptical paths. Others, however, arrive on hyperbolic trajectories and simply pass through. Only three such interstellar visitors have ever been observed: 1I/ʻOumuamua, 2I/Borisov, and now 3I/ATLAS. If even one were artificial, camouflage would be the obvious strategy—not out of hostility, but out of prudence. Just as humans would avoid announcing their presence in an unknown star system, any other intelligent species would also act cautiously.
Meanwhile, Earth’s existence is no longer hidden. For a century, our radio and television broadcasts have expanded outward, reaching approximately 100 light-years. Our atmospheric biosignatures travel even farther. An advanced civilisation could already know far more about us than we imagine—including our technological capabilities. If so, their incentive to remain unseen only increases.
Perhaps 3I/ATLAS is simply a comet. Perhaps it is one of many such bodies passing silently through the outer Solar System. Or perhaps our galactic environment is more dynamic—and more populated—than we realise. The truth is that we do not know what is out there, and that uncertainty is precisely why 3I/ATLAS warrants deep scientific attention. Every interstellar object is a messenger from a region we cannot otherwise reach. Understanding these visitors is not speculation—it is necessary exploration.
As 3I/ATLAS departs the Solar System, it leaves behind a reminder:
The universe is vast, our knowledge limited, and the unknown always larger than the known.