Comet 3I/ATLAS: While Harvard Astrophysicist Avi Loeb Spent Months Publicly Speculating The Object Could Be Alien Technology, SETI’s Breakthrough Listen Found No Artificial Radio Signals After Scanning 74 Million Frequencies, And The Scientific Consensus Firmly Categorises 3I/ATLAS As A Natural Interstellar Comet Formed Up To 12 Million Years Ago In Conditions Far Colder Than Anything In Our Solar System
According to CBS News and Gizmodo, the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar visitor ever confirmed in our solar system, has proven to be one of the most chemically exotic objects ever studied.
Discovered by the ATLAS telescope system on July 1 2025, the comet carries roughly ten times more deuterium, a form of hydrogen found in heavy water, than any solar system comet, suggesting it formed in an environment far colder than any known region of our solar system.
A Nature study published Monday estimates 3I/ATLAS could be up to 12 million years old, with some scientists suggesting it may even be a relic of an era called cosmic noon, when star formation was at its galactic peak roughly 10 billion years ago. Moving at 245,000 kilometres per hour on a strict hyperbolic trajectory, the comet has already crossed Jupiter’s orbit and is now heading permanently back into interstellar space.
Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb publicly argued the object might be artificial, citing its non-gravitational acceleration and anomalous composition. NASA and SETI dismissed the claim after Breakthrough Listen scanned over 74 million radio frequencies and detected no credible artificial signals. Loeb himself has since conceded it is most likely a natural object.
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