Harvard scientist claims tail 'grown' by 'potentially hostile threat' could be alien activity

A Harvard scientist monitoring an interstellar comet the size of New York has suggested the space rock has exhibited signs it could be an alien object.

The comet known as 3I/ATLAS has sparked interest in the scientific community ever since it was identified earlier this year, with researcher Avi Loeb co-authoring a paper which suggested the comet had the potential for being a 'technological artefact'.

"The hypothesis in question is that [31/ATLAS] is a technological artefact, and furthermore has active intelligence. If this is the case, then two possibilities follow," Loeb wrote in the paper alongside fellow Harvard researchers Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl.

"First that its intentions are entirely benign and second they are malign."

The researchers added that in the event of an attack, it'd 'require defensive measures to be undertaken'.

Comet 3I/ATLAS observed by the Hubble Space Telescope earlier this year (NASA)

Although the most likely scenario remains that 3I/ATLAS is nothing more than a comet speeding through our solar system, the idea that aliens could be days away from either crashing into Mars or attacking Earth is something which has captured our imagination – especially after the comet was added to the International Asteroid Warning Network's list of threats.

And now, there is more ammunition for the 'signs of alien life' camp, as the 3I/ATLAS now appears to have a 'tail', which appeared just days after it had an 'anti-tail'.

The term tail is used by scientists to describe a stream of gas, dust and debris which appears behind a comet when it gets close to the sun and is impacted by its radiation, whereas an anti-tail is a phrase used to describe an optical illusion making a comet appear as though it has a tail pointing towards the sun.

It is possible for a comet to naturally have both a tail and an anti-tail, however Loeb has suggested that if 3I/ATLAS were to be an alien space craft both could've been caused by it manoeuvring.

The comet has sparked interest in a scenario where it is an alien spacecraft (Getty Stock Images)

Writing on Medium, Loeb explained that 'If the object is an alien spacecraft slowing down' the anti-tail would be evidence of the spacecraft performing a 'braking thrust' manoeuvre, with the appearance of a tail being evidence to suggest it had been completed.

Again, Loeb and his team are not saying that 3I/ATLAS is an alien spacecraft performing a reconnaissance mission in our solar system, but instead exploring a hypothetical scenario where it could be.

Meanwhile, researchers are currently waiting to receive images taken of 3I/ATLAS from NASA’s HiRISE camera after it passed the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which will provide the clearest images taken of the comet to date.