Likelihood of ‘potentially hostile’ alien threat hitting Earth following scientist's warning

Things on Earth are already pretty chaotic at the moment and an alien invasion is frankly the last thing we need.

But according to some scientists, a potentially hostile alien threat could soon arrive on Earth after a mysterious object in space was recently spotted heading our way.

There have been plenty of predictions about 2025 being the year that the general public finally sees evidence of aliens, although some will have you believe that they've been hidden away in Area 51 for far longer.

What is 3I/ATLAS?

Researchers Avi Loeb, Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl spotted an extraterrestrial entity high above Earth and suggest that it could be potentially catastrophic if it turns to be spyware, although any aliens spying on our planet right now and spotting who is in charge may well decide to turn around and go home.

The entity was named 3l/ATLAS and scientists reckon it will approach Jupiter, Venus and Mars before eventually disappearing behind the sun around October, which seems like good news but it may actually just be reporting back what it's already discovered about the human race.

Loeb said: "This could be intentional to avoid detailed observations from Earth-based telescopes when the object is brightest or when gadgets are sent to Earth from that hidden vantage point."

It seems pretty likely that there are some aliens out there (Getty Stock)

Why do some think it is an alien threat?

The entity is described in the researcher's paper as 'potentially hostile' and suggest that we may soon require 'defensive measures to be undertaken', if it does prove to have maleficent intentions.

Loeb added: "The retrograde orbital plane of 3I/ATLAS around the Sun lies within 5 degrees of that of Earth... The likelihood for that coincidence out of all random orientations is 0.2 percent.

"It might have targeted the inner Solar System as expected from alien technology."

How likely is it to hit Earth?

NASA also seem pretty confident that the interstellar object shouldn't bother us anytime soon, suggesting: "Comet 3I/ATLAS poses no threat to Earth and will remain far away.

"The closest it will approach our planet is about 1.8 astronomical units (about 170 million miles, or 270 million kilometres). 3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to the Sun around Oct. 30, 2025, at a distance of about 1.4 au (130 million miles, or 210 million kilometers) — just inside the orbit of Mars."

What do scientists think it is?

The researchers and other scientists have conceded that it's far more likely to be a comet, with Loeb suggesting: “By far, the most likely outcome will be that 3I/ATLAS is a completely natural interstellar object, probably a comet.

“This paper is contingent on a remarkable but, as we shall show, testable hypothesis, to which the authors do not necessarily ascribe, yet is certainly worthy of an analysis and a report.

Fortunately plenty of scientists agree that it is just a comet (ABG/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

“The hypothesis is an interesting exercise in its own right, and is fun to pursue, irrespective of its likely validity.”

Samantha Lawler, an astronomer at the University of Regina, agrees, adding: “All evidence points to this being an ordinary comet that was ejected from another solar system, just as countless billions of comets have been ejected from our own solar system.”

So, we can just stick to worrying about what's going on with the impending threat of WW3 and societal collapse for now, with the aliens probably sensible to delay their arrival until AI has already taken over the planet.