Abel Code: No context, no truth
It’s like seeing a third visitor. In the archives of modern astronomy, there’s a special label for objects with a hyperbolic trajectory: interstellar. That is, they don’t belong to the solar system. So far, only three have been detected: the famous `Oumuamua in 2017, comet 2I/Borisov in 2019, and now, the most recent: 3I/ATLAS.
But this third visitor hasn’t arrived alone. It brings with it a list of anomalies that are as disturbing as they are fascinating. And as Avi Loeb—Harvard astrophysicist and author of the most audacious essay on extraterrestrial technology since Carl Sagan—has accustomed us, his analysis of 3I/ATLAS opens the door not only to new scientific questions, but also to interpretations that traditional science is not yet willing to digest.
Because without context, there is no truth.
The strangest body since Oumuamua
In his recent article published on Medium, Loeb doesn’t limit himself to describing a comet. It details a series of such marked oddities that it divides them into two types: those that may one day be explained, and those that seem to defy any natural explanation.
The first group includes:
A massive size: with a diameter greater than 5 km, 3I/ATLAS would have a mass close to 33 billion tons. Much larger than its interstellar predecessors.
A jet directed toward the Sun: Hubble captured a jet of material 10 times longer than it was wide. But the detail: it is directed forward, contrary to what is expected from solar pressure.
Atypical composition: CO2 and nickel predominate over water and iron, which are typical in comets.
Extreme negative polarization: the way it reflects light is unprecedented in known natural objects.
So far, it could be a rare comet. But Loeb goes further. And what he suggests in the second group of anomalies smacks, for many, of an artifact.
Unlikely Alignments: When Chance Doesn’t Suffice
Ecliptic Plane: 3I/ATLAS’s orbit is aligned with the plane of the planets, within 5 degrees. Only 1 in 500 interstellar objects could have this inclination by pure chance.
Optimized Planetary Encounters: During its passage through the solar system, the object approached Venus, Jupiter, and Mars at precisely the right times. The estimated probability of this combination of chance encounters: 0.005%.
Similar Direction to the Wow! Signal: Its arrival vector is just 9 degrees from the region of the sky where the famous “Wow!” radio signal was detected in 1977. Another statistical coincidence that Loeb is unwilling to ignore.
And here comes the crux of the matter: if all these coincidences accumulate in a single object, then the principle of scientific parsimony (the famous Occam’s razor) can work against the natural argument.
—”Whoever believes this is a comet has to explain all the anomalies together,” Loeb challenges in his article.
The hypothesis: Passive alien technology?
Loeb doesn’t affirm, but suggests. As he did with `Oumuamua, he suggests that 3I/ATLAS could be a technological object. Perhaps a damaged ship, perhaps a passive probe using gravity assist, or even a surveillance device. He even wonders if it could release modules.
In other words, if this were some kind of alien Voyager entering the solar system, we would be seeing the reverse of our own exploration: we’re the ones who send things into deep space. Is it so impossible to think that someone else has also done it and now makes it here?
What’s next: Mars as a lookout
Between October 1 and 7, Mars orbiting probes (Mars Express, MRO, ExoMars) will be able to record the close pass of 3I/ATLAS. If they capture detailed images or spectra, we may be able to rule out what isn’t there.
And in science, ruling out is progress.
Radio observations have also been requested. If the object emits signals, it would be the strongest blow to the paradigm of cosmic solitude since 1977.
Look without fear
What if Loeb is right? What if this object isn’t natural?
Science isn’t there to reassure us, but to make us uncomfortable with truths. What’s at stake with 3I/ATLAS isn’t just the identity of an interstellar object, but the possibility that we are observing a non-human technology in operation or ruin. Something that, like a mirror, confronts us with our limitations. With our oldest questions.
—“We are not alone.” It’s a phrase as powerful as it is terrifying.
And perhaps, for that very reason, it’s true.
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