For decades, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been the trusted voice on all matters cosmic.
Yet, a truly mysterious object has appeared: Comet 3I ATLAS. Is it merely a chunk of ice and rock drifting through the void, or does this celestial body represent something altogether more complex and significant?
The Interstellar Enigma: 3I/ATLAS' Anomalies
As new data emerge, the questions surrounding this perplexing visitor are mounting, leading many to wonder whether the full story about Comet 3I ATLAS is being shared.
A group focused on planetary protection, with NASA support, has reportedly begun monitoring Comet 3I/ATLAS since its discovery. This is because the object was observed giving off a metal compound not naturally present, along with other unusual behaviour.
🚨 BREAKING: NASA just quietly activated its Planetary Defense Network for 3I/ATLAS — and didn’t say a word.
— Ezee (@EzeemmaCraic) October 22, 2025
For the first time in history, an interstellar object has been officially enrolled in a planetary defense–level observation campaign.
Why the silence? What does NASA… pic.twitter.com/2w77Zs78um
The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS — a Manhattan-sized comet that some scientists speculate could potentially have alien technology — has been added to a new monitoring campaign by the United Nations-endorsed International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), a worldwide coalition of organisations and experts who collaborate to detect and monitor potentially hazardous Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and assess their potential impact on Earth.
A 'Man-Made' Compound? The Nickel Tetracarbonyl Mystery
The object's unusual characteristics include an anti-tail — a jet of particles pointing toward the Sun, the opposite of a typical comet — and an emitted plume containing 4 grams of nickel per second, with no detectable iron, a composition highly atypical for comets.
The compound, nickel tetracarbonyl, which Harvard astrophysicist Dr Avi Loeb noted to The Post has only been previously known from human industrial manufacturing, was detected in the plume of 3I/ATLAS.
Avi Loeb reveals: #3IATLAS could be a massive technological mothership intentionally sent into our solar system
— Surajit (@surajit_ghosh2) October 23, 2025
A black swan event in space is unfolding pic.twitter.com/hzTvXdmpZY
Loeb has also highlighted the object's non-gravitational acceleration and its anomalous trajectory, which will bring it near Jupiter, Venus, and Mars, as evidence that led him to suggest, in a widely debated paper, that 3I/ATLAS could be an alien probe sent to perform reconnaissance on Earth.
Planetary Defence Responds: The IAWN Campaign
Accordingly, IAWN is conducting a Comet Astrometry Campaign from 27 November 2025 through 27 January 2026, specifically targeting 3I/ATLAS to refine methods for accurate astrometry (position measurement), thereby helping pinpoint the object's exact trajectory.
🚨 BREAKING / DEVELOPING 🚨
— Ezee (@EzeemmaCraic) October 23, 2025
It’s happening folks.
The International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) — the UN-endorsed planetary defense group — has officially targeted 3I/ATLAS for continuous global monitoring.
For the first time in history, an interstellar object is being… pic.twitter.com/VYjtEfW6bi
The IAWN announcement stated, 'To prepare for the campaign, we will hold a workshop on techniques to correctly measure comet astrometry', a necessary step that immediately caused speculation among social media users, with one X (formerly Twitter) user fretting, 'They're calling it a test of improved astrometry methods, in other words, the object isn't behaving like it should'.
The IAWN, however, treats the exercise primarily as a scientific drill to improve observation techniques, rather than a direct call to enact interplanetary defences. This campaign begins just after 3I/ATLAS makes its closest approach to the Sun and temporarily slips out of view.
A Close Approach: The 'Oberth Manoeuvre' Speculation
Loeb has postulated that this gravitational influence could be part of an 'Oberth manoeuvre', suggesting that the object is a spacecraft using the Sun's gravity to change speed and trajectory.
Ultimately, the activation of the warning network suggests to Loeb that 3I/ATLAS, which is estimated to be large, about 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) across, might not be a harmless comet, leading him to speculate that 'if 3I/ATLAS is a massive mothership, it will likely continue along its original gravitational path and ultimately exit the Solar system', as he wrote in a recent blog post.
