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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsNo: the images do not establish that 3I/ATLAS is an alien ship. They show structures interpreted as jets in the comet’s coma. Astrophysicist Avi Loeb has raised spacecraft thrusters as a speculative possibility, but the images do not directly show engines or prove artificial origin. NASA classifies 3I/ATLAS as an active interstellar comet.
What do the images show—and why are they being called “thrusters”?
The images behind the headline were made on November 8, 2025, by observers Michael Jäger, G. Rhemann, and E. Prosperi. A November 10 report attributed the suggestion that the jets might be “thrusters used for navigation of a spacecraft” to Loeb. That is his interpretation of the images, not a NASA finding or an established scientific result. IBTimes UK’s November 10 report identifies the observers and attributes the claim.
Images of a comet show light from the coma—the cloud of gas and dust around its nucleus—and structures within it. Calling a feature a jet describes its appearance; calling it a thruster proposes a cause. An image alone does not reveal an engine, the material producing a jet, or whether the source is natural or technological.
Loeb’s November 19, 2025 commentary describes tightly collimated jets pointing toward and away from the Sun. He proposed that measuring their composition, speed, and mass-loading rate could help distinguish ice-driven outgassing from technological thrusters. Those are suggested tests, not reported results confirming technology. Loeb’s commentary
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Why does NASA classify 3I/ATLAS as a comet?
NASA describes 3I/ATLAS as an active interstellar comet, with an icy nucleus surrounded by a gas-and-dust coma. Its characteristics, color, speed, and direction are consistent with a comet. The agency also reports small changes in the object’s trajectory that are compatible with outgassing as cometary ice sublimates. NASA’s 3I/ATLAS facts and FAQs
“Interstellar” means the object is passing through the Solar System rather than traveling around the Sun on a closed orbit. NASA says the NASA-funded ATLAS survey telescope discovered it in Rio Hurtado, Chile; the discovery was reported to the Minor Planet Center on July 1, 2025. The name marks the third known interstellar object and the survey that found it.
NASA’s Hubble-based estimate, using observations from August 20, 2025, put the nucleus diameter between 440 meters and 5.6 kilometers. The range is broad because the exact size is not known.
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What evidence would distinguish natural jets from spacecraft thrusters?
The central question is not whether a feature looks striking, but whether measurements explain its physical cause. Loeb identified three useful measurements; NASA’s report of small, outgassing-compatible trajectory changes provides another relevant check.
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- Speed and mass-loading rate: How quickly is material moving, and how much is flowing? Together, these help assess whether outgassing could produce the observed structures and motion.
- Non-gravitational acceleration: Can measured outgassing quantitatively account for changes in the object’s path?
- Independent observations: Do different instruments detect consistent structures when differences in date, viewpoint, and observing method are taken into account?
Loeb proposed composition, speed, and mass-loading measurements as ways to distinguish the explanations. The cited NASA material says the trajectory perturbations are small and compatible with cometary outgassing; it does not establish artificial propulsion. Loeb’s proposed tests; NASA’s account of outgassing
What does Loeb’s broader alien-technology hypothesis claim?
A paper by Adam Hibberd, Adam Crowl, and Abraham Loeb considers whether 3I/ATLAS could be technology and discusses orbital alignments and hypothetical trajectories. It presents a hypothesis and argument; it does not report detection of artificial hardware. The authors’ paper, “Is the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Alien Technology?”
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The existence of a hypothesis is not evidence that natural and technological explanations are equally supported. NASA’s reported observations describe an active comet and small trajectory perturbations compatible with outgassing. The “thruster” label remains a speculative interpretation, not an independently established explanation of the observations.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What have later observations added?
NASA’s image gallery shows observations from different instruments and viewing geometries, including MAVEN at Mars in October 2025, Hubble on November 30, 2025, and TESS in January 2026. Those images can help document the coma and its changing appearance, but a feature’s apparent shape or tail orientation must be read in the context of the instrument, date, and viewpoint. NASA’s gallery does not turn a jet-like feature into proof of a thruster. NASA’s 3I/ATLAS image gallery
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On June 22, 2026, NASA reported that observations by the Webb telescope found distinctive carbon and deuterium ratios in the coma compared with those found in Solar System comets. Such chemistry can offer clues to an object’s origin and formation conditions. By itself, a chemical difference does not demonstrate technology. NASA’s Webb report
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The “new images” in the headline refer to observations made in 2025, not images captured in October 2026. NASA says the comet remained observable from Earth until spring 2026; its gallery lists NASA mission observations through January 2026.
Did 3I/ATLAS pose a danger to Earth?
No. NASA says the object posed no impact threat. Its closest approach to Earth was December 19, 2025, at about 1.8 AU, or 270 million kilometers. NASA gives its closest approach to the Sun as October 30, 2025, at about 1.4 AU—roughly 130 million miles (210 million kilometers). These are NASA-reported distances, not predictions of a collision. NASA’s facts and FAQs
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