Known as 1998 KY26, the roughly 36-foot-wide object is believed to be a near-Earth asteroid<\/a>, but something other than gravity appears to be affecting its path. New research has now cast doubt on one explanation for what is pushing it through space.<\/p>\n NASA Administrator<\/a> Jared Isaacman weighed in on the growing speculation Thursday morning on “Fox & Friends,” saying some in the UAP community<\/a> believe the object is making unusual movements, but he has seen no evidence KY26 is anything other than an asteroid.<\/p>\n NASA CHIEF CONFIRMS AGENCY HAS UNEXPLAINED UFO IMAGERY: ‘WE DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS’<\/a><\/p>\n “First of all, nothing is about to hit us, to be very clear on this,” Isaacman said. “I’ve not seen any evidence to suggest this is a threat to our planet or anything other than an asteroid.”<\/p>\n NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaks during a Senate hearing in Washington, D.C. (REUTERS)<\/p>\n METEORITE THAT CRASHED INTO NJ HOME HOLDS BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE, SCIENTISTS SAY<\/a><\/p>\n Scientists refer to KY26’s unusual movement as “nongravitational acceleration,” meaning something besides the pull of the sun and planets is affecting its path.<\/p>\n One theory has been that KY26 is a “dark comet” containing buried water that turns to gas and gives the object a push through space, even though astronomers have not detected the cloud or tail normally associated with a comet.<\/p>\n But a new peer-reviewed study by Georgia Institute of Technology<\/a> researchers Korbin Hansen and Masatoshi Hirabayashi casts doubt on that explanation.<\/p>\n Their study, published in the journal Icarus, found KY26 is likely too warm for buried water ice to survive long enough to account for the unusual movement.<\/p>\n Two shape models show scientists’ estimates of the form of near-Earth object 1998 KY26. (Credit: NASA)<\/p>\n The researchers concluded that calculated water-loss rates “preclude 1998 KY26 being a dark comet at present.”<\/p>\n There are other possible explanations. Previous research found that sunlight hitting KY26 and heat escaping from its surface could produce the extra push without buried water.<\/p>\n HARVARD ASTRONOMER TAPPED TO LEAD WHITE HOUSE UFO COUNCIL SAYS US GOVERNMENT ‘BAFFLED BY WHAT THEY ARE SEEING’<\/a><\/p>\n Another group of researchers, however, has explored a far more unusual possibility.<\/p>\n Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb and researchers Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl have examined whether KY26 could actually be Phobos 1, an unmanned Soviet spacecraft<\/a> that stopped communicating while traveling to Mars in 1988.<\/p>\n NASA SHUTS OFF VOYAGER 1 INSTRUMENT TO SAVE POWER 15B MILES FROM EARTH<\/a><\/p>\n An illustration shows the Soviet Phobos 1 spacecraft, which was launched toward Mars in July 1988 but lost after a faulty command caused it to shut down. (Credit: NASA)<\/p>\n KY26 is about 36 feet across, reflects roughly 52% of the sunlight that hits it and completes a full rotation every 5.35 minutes.<\/p>\n The researchers built a simplified model of Phobos 1 and compared the way it would reflect sunlight as it spun with observations of KY26. They found the spacecraft model closely matched eight sets of observations of the object.<\/p>\n GIANT ROBOTIC CLAWS WILL GRAB DEAD SATELLITES IN SPACE<\/a><\/p>\n They also tested whether sunlight pushing against a cylinder or solar panels could help explain KY26’s movement and found the model better matched hundreds of telescope and radar observations.<\/p>\n “Although an investigation of this kind cannot be conclusive,” the researchers wrote, the findings “add strong weight to the Phobos 1 hypothesis.”<\/p>\n NASA CHIEF PULLS BACK CURTAIN ON TRUMP UFO FILES AFTER BIZARRE FINDS SURFACE IN BURIED FED RECORDS<\/a><\/p>\n The researchers stressed, though, that their model does not prove KY26 is the missing spacecraft, describing the theory as “strongly plausible but presently unproven.”<\/p>\n Other research points to a more conventional answer.<\/p>\n A separate study published this year in Astronomy & Astrophysics<\/a> examined the light reflected by KY26 and found its makeup appears consistent with a type of rocky asteroid. Researchers concluded it likely came from the inner part of the asteroid belt.<\/p>\n Isaacman said NASA continues to monitor KY26<\/a> but sees no reason for alarm.<\/p>\n An illustration shows an asteroid passing near Earth as scientists study the unusual movement of near-Earth object 1998 KY26 and whether it could be a long-lost Soviet spacecraft. (istock)<\/p>\n SEND US A TIP<\/a><\/p>\n “I have no reason to believe this is in any way remotely a threat to our planet or anything other than just an asteroid,” he said.<\/p>\n GOT A TIP?<\/a><\/p>\n Scientists may eventually get a definitive answer.<\/p>\n The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft is scheduled to rendezvous with KY26 in July 2031, according to a 2025 study published in Nature Communications.<\/p>\n![\"NASA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Jared-Isaacman-nasa-001.jpg\")
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