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Possible alien tech eh? Im pretty out of my league here so idk if this helps but I gathered these:

1. Official / “boring but solid” info (no Loeb)


2. Peer-reviewed papers & preprints (non-Loeb authors)

Discovery & basic physical properties

Activity, dust & gas

  • Jewitt et al. – “Pre-perihelion Development of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS” Nordic Optical Telescope photometry, activity vs heliocentric distance. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.18769 ([arXiv][9])
  • Keto – “A Physical Model for the Ice Coma of 3I/ATLAS” Models the strange anti-tail seen in HST/Keck/Gemini, in terms of water-ice grains and CO₂ sublimation. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.18157 ([arXiv][10])
  • Zubko et al. – “Unusual polarimetric response of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS” (MNRAS Letters) Polarimetry of the dust coma; compares polarization behavior to solar-system comets. https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnrasl/slaf112/8307494 ([OUP Academic][11])
  • Zhang et al. – “Rapid Brightening of 3I/ATLAS Ahead of Perihelion” Deals with the brightening close to perihelion when it was near conjunction. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.25035 ([arXiv][12])

Origin, age & galactic context

  • Maggiolo et al. – “Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS: Evidence for Galactic Cosmic Ray Processing” Cosmic-ray–altered outer layers, age estimates of several Gyr, implications for composition. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.26308 ([arXiv][13])
  • Pérez-Couto et al. – “3I/ATLAS: In Search of the Witnesses to Its Voyage” Back-traces its trajectory through the Galaxy, looks for candidate stellar encounters. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.07678 ([arXiv][14])

Direct responses to the “alien probe” angle (non-Loeb)

  • Haque – “Why 3I/ATLAS is Not an Alien Probe” (EarthArxiv) Walks through dynamics, non-gravitational acceleration, and why standard comet physics suffices. https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/9820/ ([EarthArXiv][15])
  • Hibberd – “Is the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Alien Technology?” (arXiv) Dark-forest style thought-experiment; not Loeb, but engages with that hypothesis from another angle. https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.12213 ([arXiv][16])

3. JWST / SPHEREx / multi-telescope coverage



5. Imagery, observing & amateur work