NASA dismisses talk about comet 3I/ATLAS being an alien spacecraft

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has definitively stated that the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is a comet, firmly dismissing widespread speculation that it could be an alien spacecraft. Officials released new images and scientific findings, emphasizing that all evidence points to 3I/ATLAS behaving precisely like a natural celestial body, not advanced technology. This announcement aims to quell public curiosity and misinformation surrounding the object's true nature.

Discovered in July by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Chile, 3I/ATLAS garnered significant attention due to its unusual trajectory, which indicated an origin outside our solar system. This unique path, coupled with a scientist's suggestion of an alien technology hypothesis, fueled public and media speculation. However, NASA's comprehensive analysis, involving over a dozen scientific platforms including the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, found no evidence to support such extraordinary claims.

NASA associate administrators Nicola Fox and Amit Kshatriya confirmed that 3I/ATLAS exhibits typical cometary characteristics, including a telltale coma of gas and dust and a trailing dust tail. University of Hawaii astronomer Larry Denneau, co-principal investigator for ATLAS, reinforced that the object's motion is entirely explained by the sun's gravity, with no anomalous changes in speed or trajectory. Crucially, NASA assures the public that 3I/ATLAS poses no threat to Earth, with its closest approach remaining approximately 170 million miles away.

Further scientific examination reveals that 3I/ATLAS is likely older than our solar system, which formed about 4.5 billion years ago. Its composition, while differing in some aspects from comets originating within our solar system, aligns with expectations for an object formed in a different stellar environment. University of Oxford astrophysicist Chris Lintott echoed the consensus, stating that the idea of 3I/ATLAS being an alien spacecraft is "simply nonsense," as its observed characteristics are consistent with those of other interstellar and solar system comets.