Astrophysicist says attack from ‘potentially hostile alien threat’ could take place in just days

The 'potentially hostile alien threat' that has been taking the internet by storm since its discovery in July may soon reveal its origin as it hides behind the sun.

3I/ATLAS, an incredibly rare comet from outside our solar system, has baffled scientists since it was first spotted earlier this year, with many people firmly believing the object to actually be proof of 'alien life'.

This theory is currently being put to the test, as the comet has recently hit solar conjunction, which is a fancy way of describing when a comet or planet is on the opposite side of the sun from Earth.

So why does this actually matter?

Well, how the object, which has previously been confirmed to be a comet, behaves while approaching the sun could help piece together what 3I/ATLAS is made of and, crucially, provide hints as to where it might have come from.

3I/ATLAS was recently pictured from Mars (European Space Agency)

When comets approach the sun, they get hotter and start releasing volatile gases and dust from their surface, which is exactly what 3I/ATLAS appears to have done while 6.4 AU from the sun. For context, Earth is 1 AU away from the sun, so there's still a fair distance between them.

As of yesterday (21 October), the comet has been hiding directly behind the sun and completely out of view from Earth, which is when the object could do something unusual, if alien-like conspiracy theories are to be believed, according to Harvard professor Avi Leob.

IFLScience reports that Leob says that if the object is actually of alien origin, it might choose to do an 'Oberth maneuver' by using the sun's gravity to alter its course and speed.

He wrote in a Q&A that 'from an engineer's perspective' a 'mothership that releases mini-probes' would perform this manoeuvre to 'slow down at perihelion and intercept Earth, taking advantage of the Sun’s gravitational assist', adding that the amount of power required to perform such a thing 'depends on the mass of the mini-probe', and that 'the mini-probe can potentially reach the Earth within a few months after perihelion'.

If Leob's theory is incorrect and it is indeed a comet, then it would continue on its merry way through the solar system.

The theoretical physicist previously said he believed there was a good chance that 3I/ATLAS is 'not natural', and suggested people should go on holiday before 29 October, 'because who knows what will happen?'

3I/ATLAS is currently completely hidden by the sun (YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier this month, he wrote on his blog: "As of now, I assign a 30 to 40 per cent likelihood that 3I/ATLAS does not have a fully natural origin.

"This low-probability scenario includes the possibility of a black swan event akin to a Trojan Horse, where a technological object masquerades as a natural comet."

But not everyone follows this line of thinking, with NASA's lead scientist for Solar System, Tom Statler, telling The Guardian: “It looks like a comet. It does comet things. It very, very strongly resembles, in just about every way, the comets that we know."

While he did confess there are 'some interesting properties that are a little bit different from our solar system comets,' he doubled down on the 'evidence overwhelmingly pointing' to 3I/ATLAS being a comet.

Although recently, Leob took to his blog to write that 'as of now, 3I/ATLAS appears most likely to be a natural comet', adding: "But the remote possibility of an Oberth maneuver must be considered seriously as a black swan event with a small probability, because of its huge implications for humanity."