Harvard Scientist Urges NASA to Redirect Juno at Controversial Interstellar Object

The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, detected by NASA on July 1 and traveling at about 60 km/s, is the third known visitor from beyond our solar system and is poised to reach its closest point to the Sun on October 30. While over 200 scientists classify it as a comet, Harvard physicist Avi Loeb challenges this view, pointing out the lack of a visible tail, absence of gas emissions, and its unusual trajectory, which he rates a 6 out of 10 on his 'Loeb Scale'—indicating a likely engineered origin. Loeb has proposed that 3I/ATLAS could be an alien mothership releasing small probes potentially destined to intercept Earth between late November and early December 2025, using a sophisticated gravitational maneuver near perihelion. Scientists are considering using spacecraft like NASA's Juno to intercept and study 3I/ATLAS during its approach near Jupiter’s orbit in March 2026, though the object's high speed and distance pose significant challenges. Observatories including Gemini North, the Very Large Telescope, and the James Webb Space Telescope are involved in studying 3I/ATLAS to better understand its composition and origins. This rare opportunity to observe and possibly interact with an interstellar object has sparked both excitement and debate in the scientific community about the possibility of extraterrestrial technology visiting our solar system.