New images reveal the Manhattan-sized interstellar object 3I\/ATLAS has started to sport a tail, indicating that it could possibly be a \u201cmaneuvering\u201d alien craft, one Harvard scientist suggested.<\/p>\n
After exhibiting signs of an incredibly strange \u201canti-tail\u201d<\/a> since first cropping up in the solar system in July, 3I\/ATLAS is now showing evidence of a true cometary tail, images taken by Spain\u2019s Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Island in September revealed.<\/p>\n These new images shows materials being peeled off behind the 33-billion ton object as it travels toward the sun and is hit with up to 33 gigawatts of solar radiation, Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb wrote in a recent paper<\/a>.<\/p>\n New images from the Nordic Optical Telescope show the transition of 3I\/ATLAS\u2019s anti-tail to a true tail. Jewitt and Luu 2025<\/p>\n However, the succession of an anti-tail and then the presence of a tail could be indicative of \u201ccontrolled maneuvering\u201d and a high-impact Black Swan event<\/a>.<\/p>\n 3I\/ATLAS\u2019s anti-tail was a plume composed of mostly carbon dioxide and water with trace amounts of cyanide and a never-seen-in-nature nickel alloy that has only been used in human manufacturing.<\/p>\n \u201c[I]f the object is an alien spacecraft slowing down,\u201d Loeb wrote, then the anti-tail would be evidence of a \u201cbraking thrust\u201d maneuver which would naturally change to a tail as the slowing procedure completed.<\/p>\n