Tangent -- That Off-Beat Harvard Astrophysics Prof. (Last Mentioned Here, In 2022), Avi Loeb... Is Now Suggesting The Current Comet Passing Through (3I/ATLAS)... Might Be A Long-Dead Alien Civilization's Probe?!

Let's skew whimsical -- after all the somber and troubling news on Noem's ongoing abuse of the peoples' due process rights, this week. [Normally, I would ignore such fodder -- but is this guy an heir to the Loeb & Loeb fortune? Is that how he came to be a full professor at Harvard?] I digress -- on to the story, such as it is.

You may recall. . . that Avi Loeb wanted back then (2022) to dredge the bottom of the South Pacific Ocean (where a meteorite had clearly slammed in) -- thinking we might see. . . evidence of extra-terrestrial tech, in the more-likely cooled but melted rock, from friction -- as it blazed through our relatively thick atmosphere. [That expediiton never came to pass.]

Now, he's back in the news -- suggesting that he (at least!) sees "possible evidence of. . . designed components" in 3I/ATLAS's current attitude and apparent velocity, vis-a-vis the Sun:

. . .New images of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS as it approached perihelion on October 29, 2025, reveal rapid brightening and a color bluer than the Sun. . . .

3I/ATLAS is currently hidden from terrestrial telescopes behind the Sun, as it went through solar conjunction relative to Earth on October 21, 2025.

However, this unfavorable geometry of opposition from Earth -- a possible hint of design, placed 3I/ATLAS within the fields of view of several space-based solar coronagraphs and heliospheric imagers, enabling its continued observation during its final approach toward perihelion. . . .

The data shows a rapid rise in the brightness of 3I/ATLAS, scaling inversely with distance from the Sun to the power of -7.5 (±1). . . .

In addition, 3I/ATLAS appears distinctly bluer than the Sun in LASCO/CCOR-1 color photometry — in contrast to earlier observations showing it to be red -- suggesting that emission contributes a substantial fraction of the overall visible brightness. . . .

From where I sit, that is a decidedly thin-gruel, upon which to make a vast meal -- i.e., a claim of intelligent design -- for what is almost certainly. . . just a very old, dirty ice ball. I guess. . . he's only crazy. . . until one of these times. . . he's proven. . . right. [But this is not that time.]

Anyhoo, do enjoy -- just the same! Onward, grinning into Halloween, with the grand-nieces. Imagination is for. . . everyone -- young, and not so young!

नमस्ते