Harvard scientist Avi Loeb has criticized NASA following the release of new photographs of 3I/ATLAS.
The release was highly anticipated but was delayed due to a 43-day government shutdown.
On Wednesday, November 19, the US space agency held a press conference where they unveiled a few images taken by its spacecraft and telescopes.
NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya began by reaffirming that the peculiar space object is indeed a comet.
In contrast, Loeb has proposed the idea that 3I/ATLAS might be ‘not natural’ and a ‘Trojan horse’ alien probe heading towards Earth.
The object is set to make its closest approach to Earth on December 19. At a distance of 170 million miles, nearly twice the distance from Earth to the Sun, NASA assures that it poses no threat to our planet.
“I’d like to address the rumors at the beginning,” Kshatriya stated on Wednesday. “I think it’s important that we talk about them. This object is a comet.”
He further mentioned that ‘all evidence points’ to it being a comet, with its origin from outside the solar system making it particularly intriguing and scientifically significant.
In October, three of NASA’s Mars spacecraft captured new images of the gigantic space object as it passed within 19 million miles of Mars.
However, Loeb found the images rather uninspiring.
For instance, in a photo taken by the HiRise camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 3I/ATLAS appears as a blurry, white sphere.
Loeb expressed his views on Medium, criticizing the ‘dull’ developments and offering a sharp response.
He wrote that he hoped to be ‘surprised’ by NASA’s news but was not, noting: “There was no big news. NASA reiterated the official line that 3I/ATLAS is a natural comet and that they couldn’t process the data until this week due to the government shutdown. Both are dull messages.”
He noted that in one image, the light from 3I/ATLAS was ‘smeared by several pixels’ and directed space enthusiasts to a series of amateur astronomer photographs he found to be more intriguing and significant.
“These images show tightly collimated jets pointing towards and away from the Sun and reaching distances of around a million kilometers,” Loeb explained.
“In retrospect, these amateur astronomer images are far more exciting than the HiRISE image shared by NASA’s officials.”
Loeb also highlighted that NASA did not address the numerous anomalies that make 3I/ATLAS a subject of intrigue.
“Imaginative scientists master the humility to learn something new from anomalies rather than display the arrogance of expertise,” he added.
He suggested that the new data from NASA could potentially offer an even more captivating narrative.
Loeb urged NASA to investigate whether 3I/ATLAS left any new objects in its wake as it traveled between Earth and Mars.
“Related data from Mars rovers or orbiters… could reveal fragments from an iceberg that broke up or mini-probes released by a technological mothership,” he elaborated.
He concluded his post with another critique of NASA, stating: “Bureaucrats or unimaginative scientists want us to believe in the expected.
“But the rest of us know that the best is yet to come.”
Perhaps if aliens make their presence known this Christmas, Loeb’s warnings won’t have been in vain…