The object is estimated to be 20–24km wide, making it far larger than previous interstellar visitors.
A Harvard astrophysicist has claimed a massive object hurtling towards the inner solar system could be an alien spacecraft — and may arrive near Earth in just over 100 days.
Dubbed 3I/ATLAS, the object was first detected on July 1 and is travelling at 135,000mph. Professor Avi Loeb believes it could be of “technological design” rather than a natural body, likening it to the fictional alien ship in Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama. He warns it might carry probes — or even weapons — and could “save or destroy us.”
NASA and the European Space Agency insist it is likely an interstellar comet, expected to pass 130 million miles from Earth on October 30, but Loeb argues more study is needed.
The object is estimated to be 20–24km wide, making it far larger than previous interstellar visitors.
Oxford astronomer Chris Lintott dismissed Loeb’s alien theory as “absolute nonsense,” calling it a distraction from ongoing scientific research.