Astronomers around the world are closely following 3I/ATLAS , an unusual object that comes from another solar system and is raising many questions in the scientific community.
It has characteristics completely different from comets or asteroids known to date, including its speed, composition, and direction of motion, which has led some experts to consider the possibility of artificial origin.
The international study campaign, led by the International Asteroid Warning Network, will last from November 2025 to January 2026. The goal is to understand whether 3I/ATLAS is a natural phenomenon or something much more advanced.
Harvard professor Avi Loeb, known for the Galileo project, says that although the chances of the object being connected to extraterrestrial intelligence are small, "the risk it poses is too great to ignore."
According to preliminary data, the object has an extremely rare trajectory, a gas cloud with a high nickel content and very little water, something that has not been seen before in celestial bodies.
3I/ATLAS will pass closest to Earth on December 19, 2025, and scientists hope that during that period they will be able to discover more about its origins.
Whether it will turn out to be an ordinary comet or something that challenges the limits of human knowledge remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: the world of science has never seen a visitor like this before.
Source: The Economic Times
