No we should NOT expect to find aliens in an interstellar comet - Loeb is an eccentric astronomer who doesn't even take himself seriously - comets like 3I / Atlas have passed by for billions of years
It’s just a comet that flies past our sun. At a huge distance passing by at the opposite side of the sun from Earth.
And it makes NO SENSE for a spaceship. It never comes anywhere near any of the planets not even Mars.
Graphic from here
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=3i%2Fatlas&view=VOP
We likely spot one or two of these comets every month once the more sensitive Vera Rubin telescope starts taking photos later this year
I don’t think even he takes himself seriously, though he clearly likes the media attention.
And likely once the Vera Rubin telescope comes online later this year, we will find one or two extraterrestrial comets or asteroids every month.
They are passing by all the time. We expect to see 1 or 2 a month.
Why we have only started to see them in the last few years - they move so fast that normal photos only show a very faint streak - it’s because of new software that lets us see such fast moving things as clear dots
The reason we didn’t see them before is that we only recently got the ability to see them because of software unblurring fast moving comets in images.
This graphic shows - see the two red circles?
The faint line in the middle of the left one is what we used to see for an object like this. Almost impossible to spot.
But now the computers are able to do simulated tracking - the one on the right shows what you get if you track exactly with the moving comet, it shows as a bright spot (black in the photo) ad the other stars as streaks.
They can stack the images quickly in 10,000 different ways and if one of those stacks pops up an extra dot like in the right image they detect it as a new comet or asteroid.
So that is the technique that let us find it and we’ve only had it for a few years.
These comets and asteroids from other star systems have been passing by at a great distance for billions of years since before the Sun, Earth and Moon and all the planets formed
They have always been there, since before humans evolved, since the Earth formed these objects have been passing by harmlessly at a great distance. The only thing new is we can now see them.
And now we have the Vera Rubin telescope that will be able to take many more such photos of far fainter objects starting up some time in the next few weeks.
It’s going to discover one or two of these interstellar comets / asteroids every month
So we can see it BECAUSE of this new software.
Makes no sense that aliens would visit our solar system in 2025 because of this new software that lets us see the comet!
It makes no sense that aliens would decide to visit our solar system on a VERY SLOW mission taking thousands of years to get here, just because we have installed new software that lets us see them.
Indeed they couldn’t. They would have to know, thousands or millions of years ago, that if they get to Earth in 2025 that we will have the software to see them.
That makes no sense.
So the whole idea is just nonsense.
visit each other - they must have known about us for thousands of years more likely millions of years (highly unlikely they evolve to civilization at same time as us, could be billions of years before or after us)
If we ever do encounter aliens- most likely through radio signals or optical signals, we can expect them to be far advanced relative to us, and civilized. And kind. Like ET in the movie.
Also wherever we look our solar system has no sign of any aliens using any of the vast resources - not on the Moon, Mars, the two largest asteroids Ceres and Vesta, all the other asteroids and comets our spacecraft visit, Venus, Mercury, outer planets and their moons, Pluto.
Everywhere is pristine, no sign of aliens.
And - they would not need Earth. Indeed they probably couldn’t even eat our food, as they would have an independently evolved biology.
If they wanted to live in our solar system they would surely live in space habitats which they can set spinning for artificial gravity with exactly the gravity and the atmosphere and temperature etc they want.
I go into all that here
They obviously haven’t harmed us and if there are aliens nearby they are likely far more civilized than us after thousands to millions of years of civilization and likely to value sustainability and biodiversity and rights of humans and other aliens - and wouldn’t want Earth with the vast resources of space
Wanting to help us. Interestd in sustainability, respecting biodiversity, Very like ET in ET the movie. Makes much more sense.
If there are aliens close enough to reach Earth they’ve been able to see that it is an interesting planet for life since they developed advanced spacecraft.
If they do exist and are close enough to get there they have likely visited us mahy times since humans evolved. And not harmed us in any way.
So either they don’t exist at all or are far too far away to notice us or to get here, or they do exist but they are super careful not to do anything to interfere with our development.
BLOG: Nothing to fear from an alien invasion
— if close enough to invade they likely know about us since before the ice ages and must be very careful not to harm us
You can read it here:
https://doomsdaydebunked.miraheze.org/wiki/Nothing_to_fear_from_an_alien_invasion-if_close_enough_to_invade_they_likely_know_about_us_since_before_the_ice_ages_and_must_be_very_careful_not_to_harm_us
BLOG: Why it makes sense for aliens to be kind - and more so the more advanced their civilization https://debunkingdoomsday.quora.com/Why-it-makes-sense-for-aliens-to-be-kind-and-more-so-the-more-advanced-their-civilization
And about how aliens would have to be well ahead of us and most likely watched us at least since the mammoths - or they are not here.
We’d only know about them if they wanted us to know - and to first introduce themselves pretending to be an interstellar comet that comes nowhere near any planet makes no sense
And we’d only know about them if they wanted us to know about them and again are likely civilized, likely wise / kind.
TEXT ON GRAPHIC
If there are aliens here they know us well and mean no harm.
Mammoth slightly puzzled by a UFO
Combines images from: File:Alien in a UFO Cartoon.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
and File:Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) - Mauricio Antón.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
More details here
The NASA observation plan targeting 3I/ATLAS was planned in December 2024 to observe any comet flying past in the fall of 2025 - does NOT mean it is ANY risk to Earth
It is just the IAWN doing an observing campaign. There’s no risk of it hitting Earth so that’s not the reason
This is what it says in context. “The campaign will target comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) to exercise the capability of the observing community to extract accurate astrometry”
It’s a useful opportunity for astronomers to test how well they can use observations to figure out the orbit of a comet - tested on a comet that is completely harmless for Earth as it passes by at a great distance at the opposite side of the sun.
https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K25/K25UE2.html
They actually decided to observe a comet this fall anyway - with the target TBA (to be arranged). Since Atlas 31 happened to be passing by it was a perfect target.
Originally planned in the presentation from the February 2025 IAWN meeting at https://iawn.net/documents/20250204_20th_Vienna/IAWN_CometCampaign_UPDATE.pptx
Not possible for us to hear engine sounds from Atlas on Earth - the highest pitch sound that can cross interplanetary space is 34 octaves BELOW middle C
Sound can’t travel through a vacuum
Unless it is very low pitch
TEXT ON GRAPHIC
A grand piano reaches to 3 octaves + 3 semitones below middle C
The highest pitch sound that can travel through interplanetary space near Earth is more than 34 octaves BELOW middle C.
Each wave of the sound would take 1.2 years to pass by your ear.”Keyboard colouring from:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:88-key_piano_colored_octaves.svg
Perplexity calculated this as the highest pitch that can travel through a very thin atmosphere or vacuum. I would need to double check it but it looks about right.
Rest of the answer here in our new forum:
https://ddebunked.org/d/149-opinions/12?clean
The ?clean at the end will make the answer fill the window.
Why we should NOT try to make sense of nonsensical sounding ideas
Loeb says that we should entertain the idea even though it makes little sense.
I think this graphic may help explain why we shouldn’t do that - made with Bing Copilot:
TEXT ON GRAPHIC
Occam’s razor - the simplest explanation with fewest assumptions - is usually the correct one
I can’t PROVE for sure that nobody sneaked a baby hippo into my bath without me noticing.
But unless I am a zookeeper with friends who are practical jokers I can be very confident this did NOT happen.
You shouldn’t believe a story just because you can’t prove that it’s false. Ask yourself “Is this a baby hippo in my bath type story?” Philosophers call this test “Occam’s razor”
Some more examples of baby animals or birds in surprising places to illustrate Occam’s razor. These are all things we shouldn’t expect or assume to find in those places
.This is the relevance to Loeb’s ideas:
TEXT ON GRAPHIC
It makes no sense to expect to find aliens in an interstellar comet
as bizarre as a baby hippo in my bath :). Or a flamingo in an attic or a baby giraffe a broom cupboard or a baby elephant in a ot tub.”
Graphic from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:3I-ATLAS_noirlab2525b_crop.png
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