According to a report published on July 16 on the preprint server arXiv and cited by the New York Post and South West News Service, a team of scientists has warned that an alien spacecraft may be heading toward Earth — potentially launching an attack as early as this November.
The object in question, named 3I/ATLAS, was first detected on July 1 and is racing toward the Sun at over 130,000 miles per hour. Just a day after its discovery, astronomers confirmed that it originated from outside our solar system. Initial observations suggested it might be a comet, roughly 15 miles in diameter — making it even larger than Manhattan.
However, in their paper, researchers Avi Loeb, Adam Hibberd, and Adam Crowl from the Initiative for Interstellar Studies propose that 3I/ATLAS might not be a natural object at all, but rather a piece of extraterrestrial spy technology in disguise.
Loeb, a Harvard astrophysicist known for his controversial theory that the 2017 object `Oumuamua could have been an alien reconnaissance probe, argues that 3I/ATLAS displays several unusual characteristics — including a unique trajectory and exceptionally high speed. These anomalies, he suggests, could point to an intelligent origin.
In a blog post, Loeb noted that the object’s path through the solar system allows it to pass close to Jupiter, Mars, and Venus — an ideal opportunity, he says, for aliens to covertly deploy surveillance “gadgets” on these planets. What’s more concerning is that when 3I/ATLAS reaches its closest point to the Sun (perihelion) in late November, it will temporarily vanish from Earth’s view. Loeb suggests this may be a deliberate move to avoid detection by Earth-based telescopes — possibly the moment when alien technology could be dispatched toward our planet. If 3I/ATLAS is indeed a technological artifact, it may support the “dark forest hypothesis” — the idea that intelligent alien civilizations stay hidden to avoid detection by potential threats.
Loeb warns that this situation might not just be surveillance, but a precursor to a potential alien attack, urging that “defensive measures” may need to be considered.
Whether this object turns out to be a comet or a cosmic Trojan horse, the scientific world — and the public — will be watching closely as November approaches.
