Could 3I/ATLAS' strange 'heartbeat'-like pulse be alien tech? We asked Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb

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00:00A new strange observation is shaking up theories about 3i Atlas, the mysterious Manhattan-sized

00:06interstellar object that has been blazing through our solar system.

00:10The object, which has been traveling at approximately 150,000 miles per hour, appears to be shooting

00:15off periodic puffs of gas and dust that scatter the sunlight around it, potentially pointing

00:21to the inner workings of an alien spacecraft.

00:24In a new blog post titled, Are the Jets from 3i Atlas Pulsed Like a Heartbeat?

00:29Harvard scientist Avi Loeb wrote that a new study of the mystery object's so-called cosmic

00:34cadence found that 3i Atlas' light blinks repeat every 16.16 hours, like an interstellar lighthouse.

00:42When this ice reservoir faces the sun, it sublimates, it evaporates, and you end up getting a puff

00:50of gas and dust into space.

00:53And when it goes away into the night side, facing away from the sun, then no emission

00:59of gas or dust comes off it because it's getting very cold.

01:04It's frozen.

01:05And so periodically as the object rotates, one gets puffs of gas and dust in the direction

01:11of the sun, triggering a plume of gas and dust.

01:16The coma, just like a heartbeat feeding blood into the veins of an organ.

01:23Another possibility is that if the object is technological in origin, perhaps there is some

01:28inner circle of activity within this technological object that has a period of 16 hours.

01:37Therefore, there are ejections of jets from the object that are modulated periodically over

01:4516 hours.

01:46For example, if these are thrusters which are used for navigation, perhaps the puff of gas

01:53from those thrusters is modulated periodically.

01:56Analysts claim that the heartbeat originated from the rotation of the object's nucleus,

02:01but Loeb told the post that this was improbable as quote, less than 10% of the light comes

02:06from the center.

02:08Based on the Hubble Space Telescope image snapped on July 21, 2025, the lion's share of the object's

02:14glow emanates from the coma, the halo of gas and dust that forms around the solid nucleus

02:20when the comet approaches the sun.

02:22Loeb said the best way to find out whether three-eye atlas is natural or technological

02:27is to monitor the object's position with a series of photos.

02:30One way to find out whether we are seeing pulsations that are technological in origin or natural in

02:38origin is to monitor the pulsations in real time to make a movie of the object, seeing how

02:46it brightens periodically, watching whether the variations are in the direction of the sun, in

02:52which case there would be a natural explanation for that, or in some other direction, in which

02:58case a technological origin might be more likely.

03:01In the coming weeks, we are expecting a flood of data from hundreds of observatories on Earth

03:06and the Space Telescope, the Webb Telescope, the Hubble Telescope, and depending on what the

03:11data shows, it would be possible to infer the nature of three-eye atlas.

03:17For example, if we identify the speed of the jets, the composition of the jets, and the fraction

03:23of mass that was lost by three-eye atlas as it came closest to the sun, as being significantly

03:30similar to what we expect from a rocky iceberg, then indeed it will appear to be a natural

03:39object.

03:40However, if we will find, for example, that the jets are moving at orders of magnitude larger

03:46speed than expected from the sublimation of pockets of ice on the surface of a rock, then

03:53it would suggest that perhaps they are technologically produced.

03:58In July, NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS Telescope, in Chile

04:05made a groundbreaking discovery — a potentially billions-year-old icy celestial comet blasting

04:11through our solar system.

04:12The discovery marked only the third time a mysterious object from beyond our cosmic neighborhood

04:18had been observed passing through our solar system, leading scientists to name the comet

04:223-Eye Atlas, 3-Eye for it being the third observable interstellar object, and ATLAS for

04:28the acronym of the Discovery Team and their telescope.

04:31In the Space Agency's initial announcement after making the discovery, NASA announced the

04:36comet was believed to have come from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, and posed

04:41no threat to Earth — with estimations it would pass 150 million miles away from our only

04:47known home.

04:48But as scientists further analyzed 3-Eye Atlas, the interstellar object started showing some

04:53unusual characteristics, leading to some disagreements — especially from one scientist — on whether

04:58the object was a comet at all.

05:00Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb led the charge on the skepticism when he posted a blog in August

05:06claiming the cosmic nomad appeared to be emitting its own light.

05:10After Loeb and a colleague analyzed photos released by NASA of the object, the astrophysicist

05:15theorized that 3-Eye Atlas's glow was likely not reflected from the sun, but rather from

05:21a source diameter smaller than 100 meters.

05:24The brightness profile analysis led Loeb to speculate that the nucleus of the object could

05:29be in fact nuclear and possibly an engine crafted by alien people.

05:34But even with Loeb's alien theories now circulated in the media and online, NASA maintained that

05:403-Eye Atlas was merely a comet.

05:42And fellow scientists also shared their own skepticism about Loeb's claims.

05:47It's irresponsible science.

05:49This is just coincidence, the path that it comes through the solar system.

05:52There's a perfectly natural explanation for this.

05:55It is behaving like a regular comet.

05:58Once it's close enough to the sun and Earth and big enough to reflect enough light that

06:04we can see it, it just becomes another speck of light that's moving among the stars.

06:10And then, you know, they're discovering a lot of these every night.

06:13It was becoming interesting once you trace the orbit to something that's from outside the

06:18solar system.

06:19After whether scientists believe in 3-Eye Atlas' alien origins or not, the celestial

06:24visitor has kept scientists on their toes.

06:27In August, an analysis of brand new images revealed 3-Eye Atlas was covered by a conspicuous

06:32cloud of carbon dioxide, shocking space experts.

06:35The pictures showed 3-Eye Atlas glowing bright red with a seemingly threatening aura during

06:41a phase expected by scientists called outgassing.

06:44But even though scientists anticipated the outgassing phase as the object approached the sun,

06:49the object dumped out a conspicuous amount of carbon dioxide, and a surprisingly small

06:54amount of water and carbon monoxide, according to experts, including Loeb.

06:58In a blog post, Loeb wrote that 3-Eye Atlas' outgassing was 16 times more extreme than expected

07:04for a typical comet, at the same distance from the sun.

07:08The object then started emitting a metal alloy never before witnessed in nature, known as

07:12nickel tetracarbonyl.

07:13Coincidentally, the type of refined compound is used in metal coatings in manufacturing,

07:19including in the aerospace industry, to strengthen surface materials.

07:23And as the object continued its journey through our solar system, it exhibited several more

07:27science-dumping phenomena.

07:29While approaching its closest point to our solar star in a phenomenon known as perihelion,

07:34Loeb cited a report from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which he claimed provided the first

07:40evidence of a non-gravitational acceleration by the celestial object.

07:45Loeb noted that while most comets get a slight boost when their ice turns to gas and spouts

07:49out like a jet, an event known as the rocket effect, 3-Eye Atlas was showing way more zip

07:55than expected during its approach.

07:57As the object sped up, it also shifted colors again, appearing bluer than the sun, leading

08:03Loeb to speculate that if it wasn't a natural signature, it could also be a hot engine or

08:08source of artificial light.

08:10Images captured on November 8th of the strange object even led Loeb to theorize that the object

08:15had a complex jet structure, which could be a set of thrusters used for navigation of

08:21a spacecraft.

08:22When 3-Eye Atlas came closest to the sun on October 29th, we were unable to observe it

08:27from Earth because the sun was in between Earth and the object, perhaps for a reason,

08:33but maybe just as a matter of chance.

08:35At any event, it looks as if the object did not break up.

08:41We see jets coming from it, so it maintained its integrity.

08:45However, most recently, there is a razor-thin stream of material in the direction of the

08:52sun and opposite to the direction of the sun.

08:55And right now, I'm studying the possibility that these two streams might have been generated

09:02by the tidal disruption of this object, meaning that the gravitational tide of the sun may

09:09have stretched fragments from 3-Eye Atlas to a scale of order a million kilometers or longer.

09:18Scientists are still certain, though, that 3-Eye Atlas is just another comet.

09:22According to Futurism, on October 24th, the Meerkat radio telescope in South Africa finally

09:29picked up the first-ever radio signal from the object after two failed attempts in September.

09:34The telescope reportedly detected radio absorption lines by hydroxyl radicals, which are created

09:39when water molecules are broken down by sunlight.

09:41The radio signal discovery now suggests that Atlas is a comet that's losing water when

09:46flying by the sun, and not a potentially hostile alien probe sent to do recon on our solar system.

09:53A lot of people have pointed telescopes at this.

09:57The telescopes show in every way that this is a normal comet, but there are some voices

10:03out there that persist in saying it's aliens, so I'm here to tell you it's not aliens.

10:08Atlas will have a chance to determine whether Atlas is natural or technological when it makes

10:13its closest pass of Earth on December 19th, 2025.

10:18So far, the best data collected by NASA instruments was the one taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

10:25on July 21st and by the Webb Telescope on August 6th.

10:31And we anticipate that in early December, we'll get additional data by the same space telescopes

10:37that will supplement hundreds of observatories around the globe.

10:42All of that in anticipation of 3-Eye Atlas coming closest to Earth on December 19th.

10:49And let's just all hope that we will conclude that indeed it behaves as a natural object and

10:57it will not send any unwanted gifts to Earth for the holidays.

11:01But Loeb said whether 3-Eye Atlas is alien tech or not, having the object fly through our

11:06solar system is a momentous occasion for astronomers.

11:09All of these observatories are monitoring what happens with 3-Eye Atlas just because we are

11:16lucky that it came within five degrees of that plane.

11:19And perhaps, you know, just as in my blind date with my wife, you know, I was very lucky

11:26and haven't met someone else as good since then, perhaps the same is true about 3-Eye Atlas.

11:33We should regard it as a very lucky blind date from interstellar space.

11:38Let's just go ahead and get it.

11:41We'll see you next time.

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