HUNTR/X Or Giant Squid? Following Alien Claims, We Asked Scientists What They Would Like Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS To Be

*One of the cruxes of the “alien” claim is that, currently, Earth and the comet are on opposite sides of the Sun, so from our point of view, the comet is not visible. If this was a plan by the dastardly aliens to then perform a daring maneuver and attack Earth, well, neither the aliens nor the people peddling that absurd idea considered something very important. Humanity may be on Earth, but our robots are further afield. The comet was seen exactly where it should be from Mars, and it will soon be seen by the JUICE mission en route to Jupiter. No sign of preparing an attack just yet.

3I/ATLAS is not a comet – it’s a giant cosmic animal

An intriguing suggestion from Professor Jane Greaves of the University of Cardiff, known for her work on the peculiar case of phosphine detected in the atmosphere of Venus, is a giant space squid. We approve! Very Arrival (and yes, Amy Adams should have won the Oscar). Dr Sujata Kundu, Research Community Engagement Consultant at NASA Science Explorer, instead suggested a giant turtle inspired by Indian mythology and Great A’Tuin from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.

You might be wondering about our explanation for how a cosmic animal survives across space, but as the alien spacecraft claims have demonstrated, we can just suggest the evidence seen could mean something else, and the media will report it as a serious consideration. Here goes: 

3I/ATLAS has been seen releasing about 40 liters of water every second. Turning ice into gas is what comets do when they approach the Sun; it’s called sublimation. But what if we are seeing the condensation from the breath of a giant celestial animal? You can’t exclude that hypothesis!

3I/ATLAS is not a comet – it’s more of a concept

Maybe 3I/ATLAS transcends the physical realm and the simplistic classifications we want to place on it. Chemistry teacher Thomas on Bluesky suggested an intriguing one: 3I/ATLAS is the real Ship of Theseus, carrying Russell’s teapots.

The first part is a reference to the Ship of Theseus philosophical thought experiment about identity: if an object’s original parts are slowly replaced over time, is it still the same object? The paradox is about the original ship of Theseus preserved by the Athenians. As the decades pass, components of it are refurbished as the planks of wood that are rotten are thrown away and replaced. So is it truly still the ship of Theseus?

The second part is also an important philosophical concept and is about the burden of proof. One could claim that there is a teapot orbiting between Earth and Mars, too small to be seen with a telescope. Bertrand Russell argued that he could not be expected to be believed simply because he made an assertion that could not be proven wrong. It is about the burden of proof on unfalsifiable claims resting on those who make the claim, such as “comet 3I/ATLAS is an alien spacecraft”.

3I/ATLAS is not a comet – it’s a pop-culture reference

What if 3I/ATLAS is just pop culture manifested? Readers on Bluesky have suggested a truck full of copies of The Winds of Winter from a parallel universe where George R.R. Martin has finished writing it; the logo of DIC Entertainment from the 1990s, a more realistic logo for The More You Know broadcast series, or Falkor, the luck dragon from The NeverEnding Story.

Maybe it’s the Borg, and then resistance would be futile. Or the stunt ship for Douglas Adams’ fictional band Disaster Area (but then it’s going to go straight for the Sun). Dr Carl Gibson, from the University of Nottingham, suggested Jojo Siwa or a Labubu, but we are particularly partial to it being out-of-this-world promo for HUNTR/X – fictional stars of Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters.

Sure, you could argue that we have tracked the origin of 3I/ATLAS and know it is interstellar, due to its incredible eccentricity (even higher than the previous two interstellar objects), so we know it’s not of our world, or even Solar System, but never underestimate the power of advertising execs.

3I/ATLAS is not a comet – it’s aliens, but not as you expect

But what if it is aliens? Well, people have embraced that it might be. Maybe it is just alien trash thrown out of their star system, cursed forever to hike through the Milky Way. Or an alien snow cone, the crushed ice dessert topped with flavored sugar syrup, accidentally dropped.

Could a two-flavor combination explain 3I/ATLAS changing color from red (strawberry) to green (lime)? We want to believe!

Comet 3I/ATLAS: two sincere wishes

These were very fun conversations, allowing the people who so kindly engaged with us to have a bit of fun at a certain unsubstantiated and oft-repeated claim’s expense. However, there were two points raised that were a bit more serious and we thought were important to make.

I think that what it actually is is probably more interesting than what we can imagine it to be because it’s like a time capsule from a different era.

Colin Wilson

Planetary astronomer Dr Michael Busch wished it to be two comets and not just one. 3I/ATLAS won’t break apart, but if it did, we could get a look inside it, and that would be incredible. May our next interstellar comet get closer to the Sun and/or be two comets in a trench coat.

Very early analysis showed that the comet might be billions of years older than Earth, with new research strengthening that hypothesis. For that reason, Colin Wilson, European Space Agency Project Scientist for ExoMars and Mars Express, doesn’t want it to be anything different than what it is.

“I think that what it actually is is probably more interesting than what we can imagine it to be because it’s like a time capsule from a different era,” Wilson told IFLScience. “That is super interesting, and I would love for us to be able to visit it, land on it, and take a sample and bring it back.”

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to do that with this comet, but the European Space Agency is planning a Comet Interceptor mission, so maybe there’s a future interstellar object that will be sampled up close.

Until then, we can admire comet 3I/ATLAS from afar. You can always play make-believe if you don’t think that a comet from a different star system, billions of years older than the Sun, is cool enough as it is.