Oddities in the behavior of the 3I/ATLAS object do not prove its involvement in alien intelligence. This opinion was expressed to TASS by a leading researcher at the Institute for Space Research (IKI). RAS Nathan Eismont, commenting on today's statement of a scientist from Harvard's Avi Loeb.
"Avi Loeb used the desire of each of us to get confirmation that we are not alone in the universe. But comet 3I /ATLAS has not given and will not give such confirmation — its movement occurs in full accordance with the laws of mechanics without any oddities," said Eismont.
He explained that the non-gravitational acceleration observed at the object is natural and obligatory for all comets without exception, since they are affected by the reactive force generated by the emission of dust and gases from the core. Eismont also questioned the argument regarding the comet's direction of motion. He noted that Halley's famous comet, as well as 3I/ATLAS, was moving clockwise, but was not an alien vessel.
"The only feature of 3I/ATLAS is that it is interstellar. But this does not mean that this is an alien spaceship. Although many people really want to think that this is so," the scientist emphasized.
As reported by EADaily, the 3I/ATLAS object did not collapse after approaching the Sun, which is why Harvard University scientist Avi Loeb pointed out its possible artificial origin.
The 3I/ATLAS object was discovered on July 1 thanks to the automated ATLAS telescope network created by NASA to track potentially dangerous near-Earth asteroids and other small celestial bodies.
3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar celestial body discovered by astronomers during the entire observation period. The first of them was the asteroid Oumuamua, discovered in the fall of 2017, and the second was comet 2I/Borisov, discovered by Russian astronomer Gennady Borisov in August 2019.