Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Avi Loeb told Newsmax on Saturday that while the mysterious interstellar object 3I/Atlas has exhibited surprising behavior near the sun, he is awaiting more data before drawing any firm conclusions about its nature.
Loeb appeared on "America Right Now" to discuss the latest findings surrounding the interstellar object 3I/Atlas. Loeb said the object recently displayed unexpected movement and brightness changes as it approached the sun, prompting fresh scientific scrutiny but also caution.
"It did maneuver. It deviated from the path that we would have expected it to go through, if its trajectory was scuttled by gravity alone, and the amount of boost to its velocity was equivalent to a jet carrying 5 billion tons of matter, that would give it a recoil," Loeb explained.
"Now, as of this morning, some observers noticed that it has a sequence, a set of jets around it. More than seven, some headed towards the sun, some away from the sun. It's a spectacular view that we have right now after it passed closest to the sun on October 29th. It became bluer than the sun. It was five times brighter than it was before it came close to the sun."
"So the action is happening right now, and in the coming days and weeks, we should learn much more about it."
Pressed on whether the color shift could be a natural result of its proximity to the sun, Loeb acknowledged that heat was a factor but said the phenomenon remains puzzling.
"It did get hotter, but it's still much cooler than the surface of the sun, which is 5,800 degrees. And so we would expect it to be redder than the sun, but it became bluer than the sun. And the question is why? And that's not fully understood.
"Also, the kind of velocity kick that it got should have released a lot of matter. It's not clear that we are seeing it. There is no cometary tail. What we see is a set of jets around it. As of this morning, and we have to figure out what exactly is going on there," he added.
Loeb confirmed that 3I/Atlas is still moving on a trajectory that will eventually take it out of the solar system, but scientists are now watching closely for any sign that the object might have released smaller probes or fragments.
"So far, it's a small maneuver. The key question is whether it released any smaller objects probes towards the planets. And of course, we should watch our sky close to Earth. I asked my research team at the Galileo project to analyze data in the coming months to figure it out. And also, NASA can watch out for the vicinity of Mars. And so we very much look forward to having more data that will guide us. It's like a detective story," he said.
"So in a blind date of interstellar proportions, it makes much more sense to observe the other side rather than to have a premature opinion."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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