![\"3I\/ATLAS\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3i-atlas.png\")
<\/p>\nScientists have been left stunned after witnessing an interstellar object behaving in ways never seen before in a comet. <\/p>\n
Images captured in August by the Two-Metre Twin Telescope in the Canary Islands show a faint jet of gas and dust stretching around 3.7 miles from the core of the object, dubbed 3I\/ATLAS, pointing directly at the Sun. <\/p>\n
Comet tails are normally pushed away from the Sun by solar wind and radiation, making this unusual display a cosmic first.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who has long-theorised the object may be of alien origin, said: “The existence of an anti-tail pointed toward the sun is an anomaly that raises two questions: What is the nature of the anti-tail? <\/p>\n
Scientists have been left stunned after witnessing an interstellar object behaving in ways never seen before in a comet<\/p>\n
| NASA<\/p>\n
“Why are comet experts ignoring this anomaly while insisting that 3I\/ATLAS is a familiar comet?”<\/p>\n
Earlier in the summer, the Hubble Space Telescope recorded a similar unusual glow being emitted from the intergalactic traveller. <\/p>\n
Prof Loeb said the glow was much longer than it was wide, forming a jet-like shape aimed directly at the Sun, which is behaviour not previously observed by astronomers. <\/p>\n
He said: “Realising this is as shocking as photographing an animal your family thinks is a street cat, only to see a tail coming out of its forehead.”<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/the-hubble-telescope.jpg\")
The Hubble Space Telescope recorded a similar unusual glow being emitted from the intergalactic traveller<\/p>\n
| <\/p>\n
GETTY<\/p>\n
However, Prof Loeb noted that while scientists were claiming that images captured by the Hubble proved the object was a comet, they were failing to address that the jet is pointing in the “wrong” direction. <\/p>\n
Ground-based and Hubble observations show material moving toward the Sun, defying the behaviour normally seen in comet tails. <\/p>\n
The Harvard astrophysicist suggested that the direction the jet is pointing towards may indicate that 3I\/ATLAS is emitting large particles that not impacted by the Sun’s light. <\/p>\n
He predicted that the interstellar visitor to our Solar System has a 30 to 40 per cent chance of being of alien origin and a “Trojan Horse” acting like a comet to confuse humanity. <\/p>\n
Prof Loeb’s hypothesis could be proven as early as October 29 as the object reaches its closest point to the Sun on its journey.<\/p>\n
He suggested that the object will “disintegrate into fragments” if it is a comet. <\/p>\n
The astrophysicist explained: “When a comet gets close to the sun, solar radiation heats its icy nucleus.<\/p>\n
“Volatile ices like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, or water sublimate directly into gas, carrying away dust and small rocks.<\/p>\n
![\"Avi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/avi-loeb.jpg\")
Prof Loeb’s hypothesis could be proven as early as October 29 as the object reaches its closest point to the Sun<\/p>\n
| GETTY<\/p>\n
“This process can cause the comet to break apart if the mix of ice and dust cannot withstand the thermal stress.”<\/p>\n
A former researcher at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Dr Horace Drew, previously suggested a bright green glow seen in some images of the comet may point towards the object being an alien spacecraft covered in nickel.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Dr Drew said on social media that 3I\/ATLAS “is not a comet”.<\/p>\n
Prof Loeb has suggested that 3I\/ATLAS may be “a wake-up call for humanity if we realise that there is a smarter kid on our block.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists have been left stunned after witnessing an interstellar object behaving in ways never seen before in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-210123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}