A 'Manhattan-Sized Interstellar Object' That Defies 'Normal Comet Behavior' Triggered NASA's Planetary Defense System

Shutterstock Images.

According to my search on Shutterstock, this an image of 3I/Atlas, an object currently hurtling through the solar system doing some very unnatural things. Displaying the kinds of traits astronomers, physicists and other people who are smarter that you and me don't associate with balls of interplanetary rock and ice zizzing around space on nothing but the power of the sun's gravitational orbit. And what it 3I/Atlas is up to is suspicious enough to attract the attention of a worldwide defense network NASA is involved with. Which is something I don't ever remember being told we have.

NY Post -  They’re battening down the heavenly hatches.

A NASA-backed planetary defense group has reportedly begun efforts to pinpoint comet 3I/ATLAS after it was observed emitting an alloy not seen in nature and exhibiting other strange behaviors.

The cosmic anomaly — a Manhattan-sized interstellar object that potentially has alien tech — has been added to the list of threats by the International Asteroid Warning Network, a NASA-coordinated worldwide coalition of organizations and space experts who collaborate to detect and monitor potentially hazardous asteroids and Near-Earth Objects to assess their potential impacts to Earth.

3I/ATLAS is reportedly the first interstellar object to be targeted by their campaigns, prompting a campaign to hone detection skills and prep Earth for a potential threat from beyond.

The celestial object … has notably displayed a host of unusual characteristics that seemed to defy normal comet behavior. 

These included an anti-tail — a jet of particles that points toward the sun instead of away from it as is typical — and the fact that it was seen emitting a plume which contains four grams of nickel per second with no evidence of iron — a phenomenon unheard of in comets.

The alloy, nickel tetracarbonyl, has only been previously witnessed in human manufacturing, Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Avi Loeb told The Post.

Loeb also previously mentioned the object’s non-gravitational acceleration and anomalous trajectory … could indicate that it was alien probe sent to do recon on Earth. …

Thankfully, IAWN is currently treating the drill not like a call to enact interplanetary defenses, but rather a guide for stargazers hoping to get a better view.

Point of parliamentary procedure, before we go any further. I've written about this Dr. Avi Loeb before. As have other Barstool writers. I've listened to quiet a few interviews with him as well. And he's interesting for two reasons. 

One, he's got the curriculum vitae to be taken seriously. 

And two, he is willing to say just about anything. Or more to the point, he refuses to rule out anything. Ask him if 3I/Atlas was built by aliens to check out Earth, and you won't get a definite "no." Ask if it could be that probe from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home that might be coming here to communicate with its old friends the humpback whales, and he say it's not impossible. Ask if an aging Barstool blogger could be the object of sexual desire for some stunningly attractive 20-something smokeshow, and he'll say the chances of that are a non-zero number. So you go with what the man says. He's the "expert" who's "claiming" something unbelievable, after all. 

But as far-fetched as Loeb refusing to rule out this thing the size of Manhattan could be some kind of a spaceship might sound, that shouldn't be the takeaway here. What matters is that it's acting screwy enough that it's behavior alerted an international, planetary defense network. NASA's version of ADT. Our cosmic Home Security System. This thing is the intruder that set off our alarms as it was trying to get into our world's sliding glass door. 

So let's not exaggerate this into some ridiculous claim that 3I/Atlas is heading here to destroy us all so some highly advanced species can build a resort for intergalactic travelers on their way to Andromeda, or whatever. Let's instead focus on what we do know, that our sensors are picking up things that don't at all appear to be natural happening with it. It's a comet doing decidedly un-cometty things. To the point a presumably technically advanced system we put in place (probably after Armageddon came out) is telling us something ain't right with this object on a solar system scale. That alone should haunt your dreams. 

According to this, we'll know by Christmas what we're dealing with:

In case we find out sooner, and it's not nothing, just let me say it's been nice knowing you. And if you ARE that stunningly attractive 20-something smokeshow, now's the time to act.