Harvard physicist Avi Loeb has reignited debate over alien life, claiming a newly discovered interstellar object may be artificial and possibly a mothership releasing probes.
The discovery of a mysterious interstellar object named 3I/ATLAS has sparked fresh debate about alien technology, after Harvard physicist Avi Loeb suggested it may not be natural.
Detected by NASA on July 1, the object has no visible tail or gas emissions, raising doubts about its classification as a comet. “It may come to save us or destroy us,” Loeb warned, arguing its retrograde path and behavior point to artificial origins.
In a new pre-print paper, Loeb gave the object a 6 out of 10 on his “Loeb Scale” of artificiality. He even theorized it could be a mothership releasing probes, capable of intercepting Earth between November 21 and December 5, 2025.
Critics, like Oxford astronomer Chris Lintott, dismissed Loeb’s theory as “nonsense,” but Loeb remains firm, calling for global task forces to prepare.
“This is in our backyard,” he said, urging further monitoring and even proposing a Juno mission to intercept it by 2026. “We’d better be ready for both options.”