Harvard Scientist Claims NASA Image Could Be 'Alien Vessel'
NASA says it's a comet, but one scientist isn't so sure.
NASA unveiled images of 3I/ATLAS on November 19. The photos led scientist Avi Loeb to tell NewsNation's Elizabeth Vargas that "the interstellar object could be an alien vessel."
"Abraham (Avi) Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University and a bestselling author," his Harvard University biography says.
NASA acknowledges that 3I/ATLAS "is a most unusual specimen as comets go," NewsNation reported.
“Let’s wait and see,” Loeb told Elizabeth Vargas Reports on November 19. “Bureaucrats or unimaginative scientists want us to believe in the expected, but the rest of us know the best is yet to come.” He has identified 12 anomalies in the object.
NASA has also acknowledged that the object is unique. According to NASA:
- 3I/ATLAS, "discovered by the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) observatory on July 1, is only the third object ever identified as entering our solar system from elsewhere in the galaxy."
- NASA insists it's a comet, albeit an unusual one, and writes, "While it poses no threat to Earth and will get no closer than 170 million miles to Earth, the comet flew within 19 million miles of Mars in early October."
- "The closest imagery of the comet was taken by NASA’s spacecraft at Mars. Earlier this fall, 3I/ATLAS passed by Mars from a distance of 19 million miles, where it was observed by three NASA spacecraft," NASA says.
NASA Says 3I/ATLAS Was 1st Observed in July 2025
We've just released the latest images of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, as observed by eight different spacecraft, satellites, and telescopes.
— NASA (@NASA) November 19, 2025
Here's what we've learned about the comet — and how we're studying it across the solar system: https://t.co/ZIt1Qq6DSp pic.twitter.com/ITD6BqVlGn
On July 1, 2025, the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, "first reported observations of a comet that originated from interstellar space," NASA writes.
"Arriving from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, the interstellar comet has been officially named 3I/ATLAS. It is currently located about 420 million miles (670 million kilometers) away," according to the NASA website.
"The interstellar comet’s size and physical properties are being investigated by astronomers around the world. 3I/ATLAS should remain visible to ground-based telescopes through September, after which it will pass too close to the Sun to observe. It is expected to reappear on the other side of the Sun by early December, allowing for renewed observations."
Professor Avi Loeb Says the Object's Origins Should Be Clear in December
3i/ATLAS update:
— Jordan Crowder (@digijordan) November 19, 2025
The first image is from an amateur, ground based astronomer.
The second is from NASA, the largest space agency in history.
Pretty hard to overstate just how embarrassing this is. pic.twitter.com/4lJK6iWvgK
Loeb told NewsNation: "What they uncovered was the ‘skin’ of the object … some ices and perhaps some dust that evaporates when the sun illuminates that surface. Even if you consider spacecraft that travels through the core of the interstellar medium, it would accumulate over time — ices and dust on it.”
Loeb says the origin of the object should be clear on December 19, when it reaches its closest point to Earth, according to NewsNation.
However, another physicist, Michio Kaku, told the network that the object is unique because of how old it is. “Over 7 billion years, it’s had plenty of time to accumulate different gases, different elements, different kinds of environments that it goes into,” he told NewsNation. “I think that explains a lot of the mystery behind the comet.”
The Hubble Telescope Has Provided the Object's Dimensions
Scientists with NASA have studied the object's size using the Hubble telescope.
"The upper limit on the diameter of the nucleus is 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers), though it could be as small as 1,000 feet (320 meters) across, researchers report," NASA wrote.
"3I/ATLAS is traveling through our solar system at a staggering 130,000 miles (209,000 kilometers) per hour, the highest velocity ever recorded for a solar system visitor," NASA added.
"This breathtaking sprint is evidence that the comet has been drifting through interstellar space for many billions of years. The gravitational slingshot effect from innumerable stars and nebulae the comet passed added momentum, ratcheting up its speed. The longer 3I/ATLAS was out in space, the higher its speed grew."
“No one knows where the comet came from. It’s like glimpsing a rifle bullet for a thousandth of a second. You can't project that back with any accuracy to figure out where it started on its path,” said David Jewitt of the University of California, Los Angeles, science team leader for the Hubble observations, on NASA's website.