A giant object from the heart of the Milky Way is hurtling toward our solar system — and a Harvard physicist says it could be more than just an asteroid.
Dr. Avi Loeb believes 3I/ATLAS, spotted in July 2025, might be a piece of alien technology on a reconnaissance mission. At 20 kilometers wide, this massive interstellar visitor is bigger than Manhattan, glows from the front instead of trailing light, and is traveling on a rare, precise path past Mars, Venus, and Jupiter.
Loeb says the odds of such alignment happening naturally are just one in 20,000, raising the possibility that its trajectory is designed. This year, it will sweep frighteningly close to the inner solar system — and it may already be watching us.
The discovery was made by an ATLAS telescope in Chile, marking only the third time astronomers have observed an interstellar object entering our solar system.
While NASA classifies it as a comet, Loeb points out that it behaves nothing like one. Instead of a dust-and-gas tail shining behind it, 3I/ATLAS displays an unexplained glow ahead of its motion. Combined with its unusual brightness and planet-hopping route, this has fueled speculation that it could be some form of advanced extraterrestrial craft.
Its closest approach to the sun — just 130 million miles away — will occur on October 30, 2025. If Loeb’s suspicions are correct, humanity may be about to witness the first confirmed arrival of alien technology in our neighborhood.
The question is no longer whether it’s coming — but whether we’re ready to respond when it gets here.
The clock is ticking, and as Loeb warns, this incoming asteroid could be alien tech.
