Is 3I/ATLAS a spaceship? Everything you need to know about this fast-moving interstellar object

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00:00A mysterious Manhattan-sized interstellar object has been blazing through our solar system

00:05and has exhibited some peculiar characteristics that have puzzled some scientists, and it's

00:09making waves on social media.

00:11Seven jets of gas or plasma are now emanating from 3i Atlas.

00:17This is not something that comets typically do.

00:19That looks like a damn galaxy, fool, and that very well could be a ship.

00:24This atlas, 3i Atlas, this comet, is really our galactic allies.

00:31So what exactly is 3i Atlas, and why is it so mysterious?

00:36In July, NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System, or Atlas Telescope, in Chile

00:42made a groundbreaking discovery, a potentially billions-year-old icy celestial comet blasting

00:48through our solar system.

00:50The discovery marked only the third time a mysterious object from beyond our cosmic

00:54neighborhood had been observed passing through our solar system, leading scientists to name

00:59the comet 3i Atlas, 3i for it being the third observable interstellar object, and Atlas for

01:06the acronym of the Discovery team and their telescope.

01:09In the space agency's initial announcement after making the discovery, NASA announced

01:13the comet was believed to have come from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, and

01:18posed no threat to Earth, with estimations it would pass 150 million miles away from our

01:24only known home.

01:26But as scientists further analyzed 3i Atlas, the interstellar object started showing some

01:30unusual characteristics, leading to some disagreements, especially from one scientist, on whether

01:36the object was a comet at all.

01:38Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb led the charge on the skepticism when he posted a blog in August

01:44claiming the cosmic nomad appeared to be emitting its own light.

01:48After Loeb and a colleague analyzed photos released by NASA of the object, the astrophysicist

01:53theorized that 3i Atlas' glow was likely not reflected from the sun, but rather from a source

01:59diameter smaller than 100 meters.

02:02The brightness profile analysis led Loeb to speculate that the nucleus of the object could

02:07be in fact nuclear, and possibly, an engine crafted by alien people.

02:12Though Loeb said they still needed better evidence, the astrophysicist also said that

02:16a nuclear-powered 3i Atlas could also explain the object's suspicious trajectory.

02:21It comes very close to the inner planets other than Earth, like Jupiter, Mars, or Venus.

02:30And the chance of that happening, given the trajectory, one can change the arrival time

02:36of this object.

02:37And only in one in 20,000 cases, you end up with such a close proximity to the planets,

02:46because they orbit around the sun, and the chance of being so close to them is very small.

02:52The unusual trajectory of this object offers the possibility that it might have been designed

03:00so as to have some goals of a reconnaissance mission.

03:05But even with Loeb's alien theories now circulated in the media and online, NASA maintained that

03:103i Atlas was merely a comet.

03:13The fellow scientists also shared their own skepticism about Loeb's claims.

03:17It's irresponsible science.

03:19This is just coincidence, the path that it comes through the solar system.

03:23There's a perfectly natural explanation for this.

03:26It is behaving like a regular comet.

03:28Once it's close enough to the sun and Earth, and big enough to reflect enough light that we

03:34can see it, it just becomes another speck of light that's moving among the stars.

03:40And then, you know, they're discovering a lot of these every night.

03:43It was becoming interesting once you trace the orbit to something that's from outside

03:48the solar system.

03:50But whether scientists believe in 3i Atlas' alien origins or not, the celestial visitor

03:55has kept scientists on their toes.

03:57In August, an analysis of brand new images revealed 3i Atlas was covered by a conspicuous cloud

04:03of carbon dioxide, shocking space experts.

04:06The picture showed 3i Atlas glowing bright red with a seemingly threatening aura during

04:11a phase expected by scientists called outgassing.

04:14But even though scientists anticipated the outgassing phase as the object approached the

04:19sun, the object dumped out a conspicuous amount of carbon dioxide and a surprisingly small

04:24amount of water and carbon monoxide, according to experts, including Loeb.

04:29In a blog post, Loeb wrote that 3i Atlas' outgassing was 16 times more extreme than expected

04:35for a typical comet, at the same distance from the sun.

04:38And as the comet continued its course closer to our star, Loeb started sharing starker warnings

04:43about the object.

04:45During an episode of the Seoul Foundation podcast with Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, Loeb said

04:50people needed to be skeptical about what the experts were saying.

04:54We have to be careful about experts declaring things as rocks in the sky because we produce

04:59some space objects and the question is whether other civilizations did as well.

05:04And of course, the UAP subject is a derivative of that because if we are visited by a technological

05:11object like 3i Atlas, it could either visit us or release some mini-probes that arrive at

05:19Earth and appear as UAP.

05:21And we need to be aware of that possibility.

05:23And the mystery surrounding the celestial object continued.

05:26As it sped closer to the sun, scientists from the European Southern Observatory's Very

05:31Large Telescope in Chile reported a dramatic rise in cyanide and nickel outgassing, which

05:37changed the mysterious object's color from red to green.

05:41The object then started emitting a metal alloy never before witnessed in nature, known as

05:46nickel tetracarbonyl.

05:47Coincidentally, the type of refined compound is used in metal coatings in manufacturing,

05:52including in the aerospace industry, to strengthen surface materials.

05:56Loeb even accused NASA of withholding critical information about 3i Atlas when he told Joe Rogan

06:02on his podcast that the space agency had reportedly snapped an image of the celestial object when it

06:08flew by Mars, but that the image was never released.

06:113i Atlas came within 30 million kilometers of Mars, and it was taken by the HiRISE camera

06:19on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is operated by NASA.

06:23As you remember, October 1st was the government shutdown.

06:28So October 2nd, the data was taken, but it was never released.

06:33I wrote to the principal investigator of HiRISE, asked, can I get the data?

06:37I'm a scientist.

06:38You know, you can do the press release afterwards.

06:40I would like to see it.

06:41Right.

06:42No response.

06:43And as the object continued its journey through our solar system, it exhibited several more

06:47science-stumping phenomena.

06:50While approaching its closest point to our solar star in a phenomenon known as perihelion,

06:55Loeb cited a report from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which he claimed provided the first

07:00evidence of a non-gravitational acceleration by the celestial object.

07:06Loeb noted that while most comets get a slight boost when their ice turns to gas and spouts

07:10out like a jet, an event known as the rocket effect, 3i Atlas was showing way more zip

07:16than expected during its approach.

07:18As the object sped up, it also shifted colors again, appearing bluer than the sun, leading

07:23Loeb to speculate that if it wasn't a natural signature, it could also be a hot engine or

07:29source of artificial light.

07:31Images captured on November 8th of the strange object even led Loeb to theorize that the

07:35object had a complex jet structure, which could be a set of thrusters used for navigation

07:41of a spacecraft.

07:43Loeb also noticed that 3i Atlas was losing an insane amount of mass after making its closest

07:48pass of the sun, prompting the Harvard scientist to suggest that the object might have also exploded

07:53into multiple pieces.

07:55This dramatic weight loss would seem to point to the object's cometary makeup, but Loeb is

08:00not willing to rule out extraterrestrial origins just yet.

08:04Experts are still certain though that 3i Atlas is just another comet.

08:08According to Futurism, on October 24th, the Meerkat radio telescope in South Africa finally

08:13picked up the first ever radio signal from the object, after two failed attempts in September.

08:18The telescope reportedly detected radio absorption lines by hydroxyl radicals, which are created

08:24when water molecules are broken down by sunlight.

08:26The radio signal discovery now suggests that Atlas is a comet that's losing water when flying

08:31by the sun, and not a potentially hostile alien probe sent to do recon on our solar system.

08:37A lot of people have pointed telescopes at this.

08:40The telescopes show in every way that this is a normal comet.

08:47But there are some voices out there that persist in saying it's aliens.

08:50So I'm here to tell you, it's not aliens.

08:53Scientists will have a chance to determine whether Atlas is natural or technological when

08:58it makes its closest pass of Earth on December 19th, 2025.

09:02So I can't wait.

09:03It's a little bit different to see if you're standing next to Будda.

09:05I think you're still sitting here on the table.

09:06But it's just a bit different to see if you're standing next to Ibiza.

09:07And it's a bit different to see if you're standing next to Europe.

09:08So let's see if you're standing next to true Goldberg 7i Atlas is really

09:10like standing next to be a working-asson detective wave.

09:12So let's see if you're standing next to the prime minister of the sun.

09:13I can see this, which will keep you standing next to be your mind.

09:14So let's see.

09:15So let's see one more time.

09:16So, let's see.

09:17So let's see if the conversion of the flashflip of the moon,

09:17like the emotion that I'm doing now to see if you're

09:18into the final.

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