Tajemstveni 3I/ATLAS izaziva kontroverzu
Dok dokazi naginju tome da je 3I/ATLAS kometa, zabrinutost i dalje postoji. Poznati astronom Avi Loeb nije sklon brzom zaključku i otvoreno razmatra dalekosežniju mogućnost o vanzemaljskom porijeklu.
Promatranja i bezimeni neslaganja
Međunarodni tim astronoma ukazao je da 3I/ATLAS "exhibits increasing dust activity and reddening colors during the observation period, with no visible tail detected." Naučnici smatraju da nedostatak repa može biti "likely due to viewing geometry and low dust production," ali traže daljnja opažanja kako bi se dobile "insights into the evolution of interstellar materials under solar radiation."
Loebove rezerve i dokazi
Loeb upozorava: "more data we collect, the more difficult it would be for scientists to shove anomalies of 3I/ATLAS under the carpet of traditional thinking." Dodaje da smo navikli na komete sa repovima: "We are used to finding icy rocks which exhibit familiar cometary tails in the solar system," pa susret s međuzvjezdanim objektom smatra nepoznatim ishodom.
Neobični nalazi i Loebova skala
Loeb ukazuje na snimke Hubble Space Telescope koje prikazuju jezgru "surrounded by a much larger cloud of dust," i "diffuse emission ahead of its motion towards the Sun rather than a trailing tail as expected from a typical comet." Smatra da putanja može izgledati "fine-tuned to get unusually close to Jupiter, Mars and Venus," a velik dimenzija objekta dodatno pobuđuje pažnju. Za procjenu vjerojatnosti predložio je "Loeb Scale," gdje jedan znači "likely natural," a 10 je "confirmed technology" of "extraterrestrial artificial origin." Loeb sada daje 3I/ATLAS ocjenu: "As of now, I give 3I/ATLAS a rank of 6, but note that this rank is time-dependent as it reflects the limited data we have so far," i poziva na otvorenost: "The scientific method allows for all possible questions, which are later answered by collecting data and ruling out possibilities," te upozorava da "It is anti-scientific to suppress curiosity-driven questions about anomalies before conclusive data is gathered to explain them."
