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A scientist detailed in a new report a comet traveling outside the solar system and heading towards Earth is much larger.
Avi Loeb claims that the comet may even be an artifact of alien technology, rather than a natural body, because it weighs more than 33 billion tons and spans at least 3.1 miles.
The object is called 3i/Atlas, and is just the third interstellar visitor to Oumuamua in 2017 and 2i/Borisov in 2019.
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Astronomers discovered an unusual object that entered our solar system earlier this month, but Harvard physicists claimed in an alarm that the object might be an alien probe. (NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA); Image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STSCI))
The astrophysicist also revealed new data and measurements in a medium blog post that suggests that the comet's nucleus is larger than the nucleus estimated first.
3i/Atlas was discovered in July, and observations showed that the comet emitted a lot of carbon dioxide and dust as it headed towards the sun.
Loeb and his colleagues calculated a slight “non-gravity acceleration” in his motion, suggesting that the object must be heavier than earlier models.
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The comet is shorter, only a quarter of a mile, while Borisov crosses about 0.6 miles.
“This makes the 3i/Atlas three to five orders of magnitude larger than the first two interstellar objects we observed,” Loeb wrote in his post.
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Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-Atlas) appeared in the sky on September 28, 2024 in Molfetta, Italy. (Getty Image)
Next week, the comet will pass through 1.67 million miles of Mars orbit, while also approaching Jupiter and Venus.
Loeb urged NASA to turn the Hirise camera on Mars reconnaissance gear toward the object, saying even a bright pixel can fine-tune its estimate of its true size.
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“We should not determine the nature of the 3i/ata based on the chemical composition of its skin,” Loeb wrote.
He added: “For the same reason, we should not judge a book by its cover.”
Emma Bussey is a prominent news writer at Fox News Digital. Prior to joining FOX, she worked on the telegraph for the U.S. overnight team, including tables such as foreign, politics, news, sports and culture.