On Wednesday NASA held a press conference and their Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said that 3I/Atlas is not a “spaceship.”
However, Astrophysicist and Harvard Professor Dr Avi Loeb hit back accusing NASA of not being truthful.
Dr Loeb said, “NASA’s representatives should have emphasised what we do not understand about 3I/ATLAS rather than insist that it is a familiar comet from a new birth environment.
“They stated that 3I/ATLAS does what comets do, namely shed gas and dust and responds to gravity. But a spacecraft that collected dust and CO2, CO & H2O ices on its surface by travelling through the cold interstellar medium could have also developed an outer layer of dust mixed with ices that sublimate when illuminated by sunlight.
“We should not ‘judge a book by its cover,’ because we all know about the Trojan Horse which appeared unthreatening to the guardians of the City of Troy.
“When monitoring an interstellar visitor, we should not fall prey to traditional thinking but scrutinise new interpretations – the public resonates with science as a learning experience, where the collection of evidence leads the way to new knowledge rather than reinforces variants on past knowledge.”
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Amateur astronomers captured footage which shows the interstellar object is “rotating” IBT reported.
They posted a YouTube video captioned “Comet 3I Atlas is spinning – I took a picture” which shows the object moving in a “subtle, continuous motion” which shows it is rotating.
Earlier this week the SpaceX chief has said that 3I/Atlas could “be alien” as it an unusual comet and Elon Musk warned that it could “obliterate a continent.”
Musk said that 3I/Atlas could “kill most of human life” and the interstellar object has baffled top Astrophysicists over the past months.
Musk told the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that the object “could be alien, I don’t know,” however it is an unusual comet.
In the latest capture, 3I/ATLAS shows a motion pattern that resembles five objects circling a center.
Stacked images reveal shifting coma patterns, dust jets, and inner-core movement that create this rotating effect.
Video Credit: Rays Astrophotography pic.twitter.com/DvVDdkBQG1— Space and Technology (@spaceandtech_) November 18, 2025
The tech billionaire warned that 3I/Atlas poses a collision risk with Earth should it deviates from its current trajectory and said that space chiefs must monitor the object.
The SpaceX boss warned that should the interstellar object hit Earth this “would like obliterate a continent type of thing,” Musk added, “Maybe worse. Probably kill most of human life. If not all of us.”
Professor Loeb has said ‘an3I/Atlas has “anomalies” which suggests it “might” be an alien spaceship.
Mark Christopher Lee who is a documentary film-maker said it could make first contact with Earth this Christmas.
He said, “These are weird times and we’ve always looked to the stars for guidance – and we need guidance now in 2025.
“The UFOlogist in me sees 3I/ATLAS’s Earth flyby just before Christmas as no coincidence.” We could detect signals or course changes by December 19 to 25. They’re centralising contact authority just as the world watches.”
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