A massive interstellar object hurtling through our solar system has scientists worldwide questioning whether it is a natural comet or something far more extraordinary. Dubbed 3I/ATLAS, this enigmatic visitor, first detected on June 14 and officially confirmed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on July 1, has exhibited baffling behavior – including unexplained acceleration, color changes and the emission of radio signals.

Now, Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Avi Loeb – a leading figure in the Galileo Project – has raised a startling possibility. Could 3I/ATLAS be an artificial object, perhaps even an extraterrestrial probe?

For the first time, astronomers have picked up a radio signal emanating from 3I/ATLAS. South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope detected absorption lines from hydroxyl (OH) molecules – oxygen-hydrogen compounds – on Oct. 24. "These molecules leave a distinct radio signature that telescopes like MeerKAT can pick up," Loeb explained.

Previous attempts on Sept. 20 and 28 failed, but this breakthrough confirms that the object is actively emitting detectable radio frequencies. The OH absorption lines were measured at 1.665 and 1.667 gigahertz, with Doppler shifts indicating a relative speed of 61 miles per second – far faster than expected for a typical comet.

Optical images captured on Nov. 9 reveal massive jets of material stretching 600,000 miles sunward and 1.8 million miles in the opposite direction – roughly the diameter of the sun itself. Loeb noted: "Given that the anti-tail jets are only stopped at about 620,000 miles, their ram pressure exceeds that of the solar wind by a factor of a million."

The solar wind typically flows at 250 miles per second, yet 3I/ATLAS' outflow speed suggests an unnatural propulsion mechanism. Loeb calculated that the object is shedding 50 billion tons per month, comparable to its own estimated mass.

"The numbers are challenging for a natural comet explanation," he admitted. "The required mass loss, rapid perihelion brightening and size all point to anomalies."

Mystery object 3IATLAS: Alien tech or cosmic coincidence?

Adding to the intrigue, 3I/ATLAS' trajectory aligns within nine degrees of the origin of the 1977 "Wow! Signal" – a mysterious radio burst that has never been explained. "The chance of two random directions in the sky being aligned to that level is about 0.6 percent," Loeb remarked. This coincidence has fueled speculation that 3I/ATLAS could have emitted the Wow! Signal – or that it may be an artificial object navigating toward Earth.