Interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS pulls away from sun in shocking move that baffles scientists

Interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS pulls away from sun in shocking move that baffles scientists
By: dailymail Posted On: October 31, 2025 View: 29

The mystery surrounding the interstellar visitor in our solar system has deepened after scientists spotted it making an unexpected maneuver as it approached the sun.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has recorded the object, largely believed to be a comet, displaying 'non-gravitational acceleration' as it reached its closest point to the sun on October 29.

Simply put, that means it appears to have been pushed by a mysterious force as it moves around the sun.

This push could not be explained by gravity, so something else appears to be speeding up the comet and nudging it off its expected path, which some scientists believe could be a sign the object is a spacecraft with its own engine.

According to the JPL readings, the interstellar object, known as 3I/ATLAS, experienced two main parts in this mysterious maneuver around our sun, one that pushed it away from the star and one which nudged it slightly to the side.

Most scientists have continued to call it an ordinary comet from a distant solar system with a unique chemical makeup that makes it appear different from space rocks that formed inside our solar system.

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb noted that most comets get a little push when their ice turns to gas and shoots out like a jet as they approach the sun, called the 'rocket effect.'

However, 3I/ATLAS is showing way more of a push than expected, adding to the growing list of strange occurrences astronomers have witnessed as the visitor swings around the sun.

The comet has been seen accelerating beyond the natural power of gravity as it moves around the sun
It made its closest approach to the sun on Wednesday, as seen by NASA spacecraft

The object has also been getting much brighter as it nears the sun, and did it approximately 7.5 times faster than normal comets.

Moreover, most comets turn red because their surface is so cold that they absorb blue light and bounce back mostly red light, just like a cold piece of metal glows red when you start heating it.

In the case of 3I/ATLAS, however, astronomers have watched the alleged comet turn bluer than the sun as it reached perihelion, its closest point to the star.

There still could be a natural explanation for these abnormalities, as Loeb said the comet might be losing a huge amount of mass as ice boils off violently during its journey.

To create this kind of color change, 3I/ATLAS would need to have lost about 10 percent of its weight in just one month, causing a giant cloud of gas around it, which telescopes should see in November and December.

However, Loeb said that the non-gravitational push and blue coloring could also come from a hot engine and artificial light beaming from inside the object.

'The observed features are surprising but could be explained in both natural or artificial scenarios,' Loeb told the Daily Mail on Friday.

'The blue color could be a signature of ionized carbon monoxide or a hot engine. The non-gravitational acceleration could be a result of cometary evaporation or technological propulsion,' the professor explained.

3I/ATLAS is expected to make its closest approach to Earth on December 19
3I/ATLAS is widely thought to be a comet, but scientists like Professor Avi Loeb maintain that unusual clues point to the object being a spacecraft

Loeb has called the latest strange readings from 3I/ATLAS the ninth anomaly detected as the object makes its way through our solar system.

The scientist said his first clue that something wasn't adding up was the sheer brightness of the object while it was still far away from our planet and the sun.

It also developed a backward 'anti-tail' that was facing the sun before it reached perihelion.

However, it then swiftly shifted to a normal tail behind the supposed comet as it moved closer, which some have suggested could be a sign of a spacecraft engine reversing thrust.

Its strange course taking it close to three planets and its unique chemical combination of nickel and carbon dioxide have all contributed to a growing belief that 3I/ATLAS is not a floating space rock.

Before discovering the ninth oddity, Loeb calculated that the odds of all these strange occurrences happening at the same time were one in 10,000,000,000,000,000 (that's ten quadrillion).

Loeb previously told the Daily Mail that those in the scientific community who have dismissed the more extraordinary possibilities are more concerned with being right and avoiding criticism than alerting the public to a potentially world-changing event.

'Here we are talking about a potential for something that could affect humanity in the future in a dramatic way, and so you shouldn't apply the same approach of being as conservative as possible,' Loeb explained.

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