The Glow of Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS May Be NUCLEAR Powered, Shocking New Image Stuns Scientists

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Scientists have recently gathered some of the most important—and surprising—data about the newly discovered interstellar body 3I/ATLAS. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope and other powerful observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope, have revealed details that no one expected.

At first, when scientists noticed the bright glow surrounding the object, they assumed it was simply sunlight reflecting off a dusty layer being released by the interstellar body, much like a comet. But new observations and detailed calculations have revealed something very different.

The column density of the escaping dust has been estimated at only ∼10^6 𝑔/𝑐𝑚^2. —a value so small that the dust cloud is far too thin to block or scatter much sunlight. Astronomers describe this state as “optically thin.”

In simple terms, even though dust is being released, the particles are spread out so sparsely that the cloud remains almost completely transparent. This raises a fascinating question: if the dust is too thin to produce the glow, then where is the bright light actually coming from?

Well, Harvard University Professor Avi Loeb recently explained that the dust cloud around 3I/ATLAS is far too thin to block or scatter much sunlight. This means that the light we see is coming mostly from the surface of the interstellar object itself, not from dust surrounding it.
Loeb also pointed out that, based on its observed brightness, the object would need to have a radius of about 10 kilometers if its surface reflects sunlight poorly. And if it were a perfect mirror-like reflector, it could be smaller—but still several kilometers across. He further noted that if 3I/ATLAS were just a natural rock, interstellar space could only deliver an object this large to our Solar System about once every 10,000 years—making such an encounter extremely rare.
Another intriguing detail is the reddish glow observed in the light from 3I/ATLAS. This suggests that the object’s surface itself is reddish in color, much like Kuiper Belt objects such as Arrokoth, which are coated in complex organic materials created by billions of years of exposure to cosmic rays and ultraviolet radiation. However, Loeb has also raised a more provocative possibility. He suggested that the red glow might not be just reflected sunlight at all. Instead, the object could be generating its own light. And if that were the case, then—just like a spacecraft—it might be powered internally, perhaps even by something as advanced as nuclear energy.

Well, scientists have also uncovered some other unexpected results about 3I/ATLAS. Over several months of careful monitoring, they found that the amount of material eroded from its surface is only a fraction of a nanometer—so thin that it’s practically nothing. In other words, the nucleus of this interstellar visitor has remained almost completely intact during its journey through our Solar System.