Astronomers tracking the skies around our planet have picked up two very different cosmic companions: a vast interstellar comet sweeping through the inner solar system and a small quasi-moon looping near Earth. One is a true visitor from deep space, the other a long-term hanger-on, but together they show how much is happening in the near-Earth neighborhood that we are only now learning to see. I see in these discoveries not a threat creeping toward us, but a rare chance to study material and orbits that were invisible until very recently.
The most dramatic arrival is Comet 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar object that passed close to Earth in December, while a newly recognized asteroid, 2025 PN7, has been identified as a quasi-satellite that has been shadowing our planet for decades. As researchers argue over whether 3I/ATLAS is simply an exotic chunk of ice and rock or something more engineered, the quieter story of 2025 PN7 shows how subtle gravitational dances can leave small bodies effectively “creeping” alongside Earth for years at a time.
What we know about Comet 3I/ATLAS
The object now labeled Comet 3I/ATLAS first drew attention earlier this year when telescopes picked up an unusually fast, highly inclined body cutting into the inner solar system. Follow-up work showed that its trajectory could not be explained by a bound orbit around the Sun, which is why it was classified as an interstellar object and given the designation 3I. Observers tracked Comet 3I/ATLAS as it swept past Earth December 19, with the flyby confirming that it came from outside the solar system and that its path would carry it back out into deep space after its close approach.
Ground-based facilities, including the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph, have been used to study the coma and tail of Comet 3I/ATLAS in detail, giving astronomers a rare look at material that condensed around another star before drifting into our neighborhood. Despite the inevitable speculation, researchers analyzing the light from the object have stressed that Comet 3I/ATLAS is still not an alien spacecraft, but rather a natural body whose interstellar origin is inferred from its speed and hyperbolic orbit as it passed near Earth December. That conclusion is grounded in the measured trajectory and the way the coma behaves, which match expectations for a comet rather than a powered vehicle, as documented in early reports on Comet 3I/ATLAS.
Astronomers, NASA and the interstellar speed debate
When astronomers first realized that 3I/ATLAS was not bound to the Sun, they placed it in the same small family as earlier interstellar visitors and began comparing its motion and brightness to those earlier cases. Professional surveys and follow-up campaigns showed an object speeding through the solar system on a one-time pass, moving fast enough that the Sun’s gravity would only bend its path rather than capture it. Reports described how astronomers spotted this interstellar object racing inward and flagged it for intensive monitoring, with the discovery announced after teams had confirmed that its orbit could not be reconciled with a long-period comet native to our own system, a point underscored in coverage of astronomers tracking its path.
Space agency scientists then dug into archival images to find “pre-discovery” sightings of the same point of light, extending the observational arc back to June 14 and tightening the estimates of its incoming speed and direction. Numerous telescopes contributed data, allowing dynamicists to show that the comet originated from interstellar space rather than from the distant Oort Cloud that surrounds the Sun. In technical briefings, NASA specialists described animations of the observations that illustrate how the object’s hyperbolic orbit and inbound velocity mark it as a true interstellar comet, with the extended data set and the role of Numerous observatories central to that conclusion.
The Harvard controversy: comet or alien probe?
Not everyone in the scientific community is content to treat 3I/ATLAS as just another comet, however exotic its origin. A Harvard researcher, building on earlier debates about interstellar visitors, has argued that the newly detected object could be more than a natural fragment and has suggested that its behavior might be consistent with an artificial craft. In one widely shared discussion, a Harvard scientist warned that 3I/ATLAS has an enormous elliptical orbit and raised the possibility that such a path could be compatible with a controlled or engineered trajectory, a claim that has circulated in forums dedicated to the James Webb Space Telescope and other deep-space missions, including posts that highlight the Harvard perspective.
That line of argument has been amplified by other social media posts that describe a harvard researcher raising alarms about a mysterious interstellar object approaching Earth and suggesting it could be an advanced alien mothership. In those accounts, the object is framed as a potential reconnaissance vehicle, with the idea that a large craft could release smaller probes as it passes through the inner solar system. The same theme appears in discussions of a mysterious object hurtling toward deep space and in debates over whether 3I/ATLAS might be an alien probe or even a mothership, with one harvard post explicitly using that language and another highlighting a Harvard researcher as the source of the speculation.
Harvard astrophysicist avi loeb, known for his controversial theories on extraterrestrial life, has been central to this debate, proposing that 3I/ATLAS might be an alien probe or even a mothership. In one discussion, he is cited as arguing that the massive interstellar object could be on a reconnaissance mission, an idea that has been linked to political comments such as Gabbard on aliens, “continuing to look for the truth,” and to the suggestion that the object was first detected in early Jul by an Aste survey. Those arguments are laid out in posts that describe a Harvard astrophysicist advancing the alien-craft hypothesis and in coverage of a Gabbard discussion of whether such a massive interstellar object could be an alien probe.
Viral videos and the lure of extreme speeds
Beyond formal papers and social media posts from researchers, 3I/ATLAS has also become fodder for viral explainer videos that blend real orbital mechanics with more speculative storytelling. One widely viewed clip released in early Jul describes how astronomers have just spotted something really strange moving through our solar system and emphasizes that it seems to be coming our way, presenting the interstellar object as a mysterious visitor whose true nature is still up for debate. The video walks through the idea of an object on a hyperbolic path and uses the discovery of an interstellar comet as a hook to discuss how such bodies might carry clues about other planetary systems, echoing the excitement that surrounded earlier interstellar detections and drawing on the narrative of a Jul discovery.
Another popular video leans even harder into the drama, describing a strange object racing toward the Sun and insisting that it will not stop, while citing a speed of 152,000 m as evidence of its extraordinary nature. That figure, presented as a “crazy fast” velocity, is used to argue that the object is moving faster than typical comets and asteroids and to suggest that something unusual is at work in its propulsion or origin. In that narrative, the interstellar visitor is framed as a kind of unstoppable bullet, zooming through the solar system at a pace that defies easy explanation, with the quoted 152,000 m speed forming the centerpiece of the argument in the Sep video.
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