The arrival of a interstellar comet It is considered an extraordinary event for contemporary astronomy. 3i/atlas It surprises with its rapid transformation and a glow that does not record precedents in objects of this caliber. His greenish glow, captured by high -range telescopes, distinguishes it as a body that does not respond to the usual patterns.
Discovered in 2024 by the Atlas system in Hawaii, 3i/Atlas is the Third interstellar visitor which precedes’ Oumuamua (2017) and 2i/Borisov (2019). Each of these findings shows that the space between the stars is not a static vacuum, but a corridor through which fragments of other latitudes travel.
The anomalies of 3i/Atlas arouse the suspicion that it is not a simple cosmic fragment. Avi Loeb, recognized Harvard physic An alien artifact Disguised with kite skin.
With a nucleus of just hundreds of meters and an unusual coma – the cloud of gas and dust that surrounds it – 3i/Atlas generates a lot of distrust. Observatories such as Gemini North and Vry Large Telescope registered emissions that challenge any equivalence with comets that cross the Solar System.
Astronomers around the world follow their metamorphosis: what seemed like a discreet object became a true rarity. His hair grew quickly and the color turned to an emerald green, breaking the symmetries and forcing the rethinking of the commentary dynamics.
The origin of the brightness divides opinions. Some attribute it to compounds such as cyanide and nickel that, when interacting with solar radiation, emits green light. The ATLAS project team postulates that they are ice grains that reflect the light in a singular way. Both hypotheses They open questions about the chemistry of the forged visitors beyond the sun.
To these irregularities is added a disconcerting path, with an acceleration that does not respond only to the gravitational effects and unusual encounters with Venus, Mars and Jupiter that keep the unknown open.
The weekend went to 2.68 million kilometers from the Martian orbit. Although it does not imply an immediate threat, Avi Loeb warns that its retrograde – controlled to the flow of the solar system – could represent A danger to our planet.
Spectroscopic analysis indicates the presence of volatile compounds, although with atypical proportions. Some observers highlight dust release and non -gravitational acceleration difficult to explain only because of the effect of sublimated gas.
They recommend prudence and caution
NASA and ESA have been prudent. They point out that the rarity of 3i/Atlas is due more to our Lack of experience with interstellar comets that to properties impossible to reconcile with known physics. However, the scientific debate is open.
The concern persists, since the tail of 3i/Atlas points towards the sun, against what was expected by the effect of solar wind in icy comets. This uniqueness could be the most obvious signal of a forged origin in conditions very different from those of our solar system.
The detection of this cosmic wandering was possible thanks to the Rubin Observatory in Atacama, equipped with the largest digital camera built for astronomy: 3.2 Gigapíxes that precisely track the confines of the solar system.
The Rubin telescope could discover more interstellar bodies such as 3I/Atlas, but its frequency remains an enigma: it barely achieved three detections throughout its history and the available data are insufficient.
During the first week of September, several Martian probes, such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the European Mars Express and Exomars missions, will follow the close step of the comet to accumulate more information.
The mysterious Wow emission!
In 1977, Ohio’s Big Ear radio captured the famous “Wow!”, A radio broadcast that lasted 72 seconds And he never repeated himself again. Decades later, some researchers relate it to comet 3i/Atlas, suggesting that it could be a probe linked to that enigma that still baffles science.
It is true that parallelism is tempting: an interstellar object with unusual behaviors and a wave in the same celestial region, a script worthy of the best science fiction. But science demands caution.
So far, radio emissions or technology indications have not been recorded in 3I/Atlas. The Radio Country of the Seti project have observed it carefully, but without obtaining conclusive evidence.
Could an advanced civilization send camouflaged probes as comets? The idea is not new. Carl Sagan himself speculated on the possibility of “ambushed artifacts” in natural trajectories. Considering that it would be an effective method to explore without raising suspicions.
At the moment there are only fragmentary data. Each interstellar object works as a moving laboratory, a capsule that retains the chemistry of other planetary systems and whose observation reveals clues about the training and evolution of distant worlds.
These findings evoke a temporary leap around the seventeenth century, when Galileo pointed his telescope to the stars and changed the vision of the cosmos. Today, new windows open towards previously inaccessible regions, showing phenomena that defy known categories and demand new openings.
If an object like 3I/Atlas issued an unequivocal signal, humanity would be faced with a radical challenge: accept the possibility of not being alone and facing the cultural, scientific and philosophical consequences of that discovery.
For now, 3i/Atlas continues its silent transit and in a few months it will disappear in the darkness of the void, perhaps forever. The registration of his journey that prompted to look beyond the obvious, between scientific certainty and cosmic conjecture will remain.
The 3I/Atlas comet is, until now, a fragment of interstellar matter, but also reflects the most ambitious questions: it shows the chemistry of other stars and suggests, although remotely, the possibility of a hidden message.