Scientists have warned that a mysterious space object the size of Manhattan is hurtling towards the Earth, and the danger it poses isn’t what you’re thinking. According to a new study, the space object may be an alien spacecraft that can attack our planet, possibly in November 2025. The object 3I/ATLAS (previously known as A11pl3Z), as per researchers, may be an alien technology that could launch a surprise attack on our planet. Behind the warning, as one of the authors is Avi Loeb, a prominent Harvard astrophysicist known for his contribution to the research on aliens, his contributions to the search for life “out there” and for his controversial conspiracy theories, including one that posed that the 2017 interstellar object ʻOumuamua might be an artificial probe created by an alien civilisation.
As per the study, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, the object’s orbit would make it easier for the object (if it is an intelligent alien craft) to approach Earth without being noticed. The team of scientists – Harvard researcher Avi Loeb, Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl from the Initiative for Interstellar Studies in London – postulate that the object will get closest to the Sun in late November. They say that at its closest, the object would be hidden from Earth’s view, which means that it could carry out a secret high-speed manoeuvre.
The object was first spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey telescope at Río Hurtado, Chile. At 10 to 20 kilometres wide, the object is moving towards our planet at the speed of over 60 kilometres per second.
As per the study authors, the paper is clearly from a hypothetical point of view and not something they necessarily think would happen. They wrote, “This paper is contingent on a remarkable but, as we shall show, testable hypothesis, to which the authors do not necessarily ascribe, yet is certainly worthy of an analysis and a report.” However, they also warn that if it were to come true, it would be dire. “The consequences, should the hypothesis turn out to be correct, could potentially be dire for humanity, and would possibly require defensive measures to be undertaken (though these might prove futile).”
