"Since then, Loeb has advanced the " tantalizing possibility" that 3I/ATLAS was "sent towards the inner solar system by design" and could even be releasing "mini-probes" to explore further."
""It looks like a comet," he said. "It does comet things. It very, very strongly resembles, in just about every way, the comets that we know.""
""So even in our solar system, comets can have a history of suddenly brightening if there's, say, a particular pocket of ice that sublimates quickly and drives off a large amount of dust," he told the Guardian."
Astronomers discovered 3I/ATLAS in early July as the third known interstellar visitor to the solar system. Avi Loeb proposed that unusual chemistry, trajectory near Mars and Jupiter, and large suspected size could indicate deliberate dispatch and even emission of "mini-probes." NASA lead scientist Tom Statler and others observe that the object behaves like known comets, showing outgassing and brightness changes consistent with sublimating ice and dust. Statler acknowledged some atypical properties but emphasized that comet reactions to solar radiation can be unpredictable and that the object strongly resembles familiar solar system comets.
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