By Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,
A colossal interstellar space rock, originally known as “A11pl3Z” but later given the name “3I/ATLAS,” is making a very concerning pass through our solar system in September and October. Based on their initial observations, scientists estimated that 3I/ATLAS is about 20 kilometers across, which would make it larger than Manhattan. But now scientists tell us that it’s probably at most 5.6 kilometers wide. Even if it’s only about 5 kilometers wide, we’re still talking about an extinction-level event if it were to hit us.
Over the next few months, 3I/ATLAS will be hurtling through our solar system at around 130,000 miles per hour, and scientists assure us that the sun’s gravity cannot significantly alter the trajectory of an object moving that fast.
But what if they are wrong?
As you can see below, 3I/ATLAS is scheduled to fly past Mars on October 3rd at a distance of just 0.19 AU.
That’s even closer than astronomers originally predicted, and that’s making some people nervous.
Hopefully the experts are right and there is no risk of collision, because if this thing were to reach Mars, it would be a disaster the likes of which none of us have ever seen.
According to Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, it appears that 3I/ATLAS may actually be emitting its own light …
According to Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, which is moving through our inner solar system, appears to be emitting its own light.
The scientist argues in his new blog post that Loeb’s observation, if confirmed, would contradict NASA’s classification of the Manhattan-sized object as a comet.
Of course, more observations need to be made to confirm this.
But essentially there are two options.
If this theory is not true and 3I/ATLAS itself is not emitting light, then according to Loeb, this giant space rock is probably about 12 miles long …
If 3I/ATLAS were reflecting light, that would mean the object would be 12 miles long, which the astrophysicist said is unlikely.
I can’t even imagine an object that is 12 miles long and moving at 130,000 miles per hour.
Can you?
Another option is that 3I/ATLAS is emitting its own light, and that would be even more ominous, as Loeb believes that 3I/ATLAS could potentially be a “nuclear-powered spacecraft” …
Loeb speculated that the object’s core could actually be a nuclear reactor – and possibly an alien-created engine.
“A natural nuclear source could be a rare fragment from a nearby supernova core that is rich in radioactive material. This possibility is highly unlikely, given the meager reservoir of radioactive elements in interstellar space,” Loeb wrote.
“Alternatively, 3I/ATLAS could be a nuclear-powered spacecraft, and the dust emitted from its front surface could come from dirt that has accumulated on its surface during interstellar travel,” Loeb speculated, adding: “This cannot be ruled out, but better evidence is needed to make it credible.”
And Loeb has pointed out that the fact that 3I/ATLAS’s trajectory takes it so close to Mars, Venus and Jupiter is further evidence for the theory that it could be an alien spacecraft…
Loeb has also raised questions about this unusual trajectory.
“If you imagine objects entering the solar system from random directions, only one in 500 of them would be so well aligned with the orbits of the planets,” Loeb told Fox News Digital earlier this month.
An interstellar object originating from the center of the Milky Way should also pass near Mars, Venus and Jupiter, another unlikely coincidence, he said.
“It’s also close to each of them, with a probability of one in 20,000,” he said.
I mention on the record that I think Loeb is completely deadlocked on this issue.
I don’t believe 3I/ATLAS is an alien spacecraft.
But I believe it is a very dangerous space rock.
And it looks like it’s moving alarmingly close to Mars, Venus, and Jupiter …
It travels in a retrograde orbit that is 5 degrees off the plane of the ecliptic, passing Venus at 0.65 astronomical units, Mars at 0.19 AU, and Jupiter at 0.36 AU. Loeb calculates the probability of such alignments occurring by chance is 0.005 percent.
When I originally wrote about this giant space rock, we were told it would pass Mars at a distance of about 0.4 AU.
But now we are told that it will pass Mars on October 3rd at a distance of just 0.19 AU.
I know it’s still a relatively safe distance, but I think it’s a little too close.
And is it possible that our astronomers will change their predictions again as we approach October 3rd?
They have already reduced the predicted distance between 3I/ATLAS and Mars by more than half.
This is a story we want to follow very closely.
After a close encounter with Mars, 3I/ATLAS is expected to be closest to the Sun on October 30th.
3I/ATLAS is then expected to make its closest approach to Earth on December 19, at a distance of about 1.8 astronomical units.
This is very good news, because as I pointed out in a previous article, it has been estimated that if we were hit by a giant space rock just 11 or 12 kilometers wide, it would “wipe out almost everything on Earth” …
For an asteroid to wipe out almost everything on Earth, it would have to be huge. Scientists estimate that an asteroid about 11 to 12 kilometers wide would have to hit Earth. If it collided, it would create a huge cloud of dust that would cover the entire planet, block out the sun, and increase the temperature where the asteroid would hit. Billions of people would die and much of the life on the planet would be destroyed. But scientists believe that some would survive.
Fortunately, 3I/ATLAS won’t hit us, but the clock is definitely ticking for humanity.
In fact, even mainstream scientists are now warning that humanity is living on borrowed time …
In a game of Russian roulette with a standard Colt revolver, the odds of instant death are one in six.
According to Toby Ord, a futurologist at the University of Oxford and an expert on the threat of artificial intelligence, this is terrifying, but the likelihood of humanity being completely destroyed within 75 years is just as high – all people dying in a catastrophic and complete collapse of civilization.
Does that sound impossibly bleak? His colleague Nick Bostrom is even more pessimistic. He estimates the probability of human extinction within the next century at one in four.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond is even less hopeful, predicting that our species’ chances of survival after 2050—which is just 25 years away—are no better than even, or 50/50.
Our self-destructive behavior is slowly but surely destroying our civilization in thousands of different ways.
So, even if we are extremely lucky and a giant space rock doesn’t hit our planet in our lifetime, the truth is that our civilization would still face one existential crisis after another.
Michael’s new book, titled “10 Prophetic Events Coming Next,” is available in paperback and for Kindle on Amazon.com, and his Substack newsletter can be subscribed to at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
