The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a fascinating image of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, revealing a mysterious phenomenon that has astronomers scratching their heads. But here's where it gets controversial—the image shows an extended glow pointing towards the Sun, which challenges our understanding of comets.
The Surprising Discovery:
On July 21, 2025, the Hubble Space Telescope captured a groundbreaking image of 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar visitor. The image, analyzed by experts, revealed a stunning feature—an elongated glow directed towards our Sun. This observation was made possible due to the viewing angle, just 10 degrees away from the object's path relative to the Sun. If viewed from the side, this glow would appear 10 times longer than its width, a remarkable finding detailed in a paper by the author and Eric Keto.
The Comet Conundrum:
Astronomers were quick to celebrate the image as evidence of 3I/ATLAS behaving like a typical comet. However, a closer look reveals a shocking anomaly. The image displays an anti-tail, a feature pointing towards the Sun, which contradicts the expected behavior of comets. This is akin to spotting a creature in your backyard, identified as a cat by your family, but with a tail sprouting from its forehead! The only attempt to explain this peculiarity is found in the aforementioned paper.
Comets are known for their tails of dust and gas, always pointing away from the Sun due to solar radiation and wind. If the anti-tail contained common comet dust, the sunlight would have pushed these particles away from the Sun relative to the massive nucleus. Larger dust particles are less affected by sunlight but also scatter light less effectively. The most efficient scattering occurs with particles similar in size to sunlight's wavelength (around 0.5 micrometers). If 3I/ATLAS shed such particles, they would have formed a tail pointing away from the Sun, contrary to the observed anti-tail.
The Twin Telescope's Contribution:
A new image, captured by the Two-meter Twin Telescope (TtT) at the Teide Observatory in the Canary Islands, Spain, on August 2, 2025, adds to the intrigue. This image, composed of 159 50-second exposures, also shows a faint jet pointing towards the Sun, extending approximately 6,000 kilometers from the nucleus, similar to the Hubble image.
Unanswered Questions:
The existence of this anti-tail raises two crucial questions:
1. What is the nature of this anti-tail? Is it a unique feature of 3I/ATLAS, or is there another explanation?
2. Why are comet experts overlooking this anomaly and insisting that 3I/ATLAS is a typical comet? Is there a hidden bias at play?
The author is currently working with Eric Keto to address the first question, while the second question remains a puzzle for historians of science to unravel.
The 'Dayenu' Anomalies:
Borrowing from the Hebrew word 'Dayenu,' meaning 'It would have been enough,' the author lists several anomalies of 3I/ATLAS, each of which is astonishing on its own:
- The presence of a sunward jet or anti-tail.
- Its extraordinary mass, a million times greater than 1I/`Oumuamua and a thousand times more massive than 2I/Borisov, with a faster velocity.
- The object's trajectory alignment within 5 degrees of the ecliptic plane of the planets around the Sun.
- Its precisely timed arrival, passing remarkably close to Mars, Venus, and Jupiter.
- The unique composition of its gas plume, with nickel but no iron, and a nickel-to-cyanide ratio unmatched by any known comet.
- The low water content in its gas plume, contrary to comet experts' predictions.
- The extreme negative polarization, unlike any known comet.
- The intriguing alignment of its arrival direction with the famous 'Wow! Signal.'
The Europa Clipper and Hera Encounter:
A recent preprint suggests detecting 3I/ATLAS's gaseous plume as it passes near the Europa Clipper and Hera spacecraft. However, the author's calculations indicate that the gas plume will likely be too dispersed by the solar wind to be observed at such a distance.
The Future of Scientific History:
The second question, regarding comet experts' interpretation, is a matter for historians of science to address. As the author points out, history is written by those who tell it. With AI systems potentially documenting the 21st century, it is crucial that they remain unbiased and open to the mysteries of the universe, such as the anomalies presented by 3I/ATLAS. If AI historians become influenced by myths rather than facts, we may need to reconsider their role in shaping our understanding of the cosmos.
About the Author:
Avi Loeb, a renowned figure in astronomy, leads the Galileo Project and has held prestigious positions at Harvard University, including founding director of the Black Hole Initiative and director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He is the author of bestselling books, such as 'Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth' and 'Interstellar,' offering unique insights into the mysteries of the universe.
