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According to the New York Post, the new images have sparked speculation that the interstellar object, roughly the size of Manhattan, could be an artificial alien spacecraft. In the images taken on November 8, at least seven distinct jets can be seen, and “some of them are anti-tails directed toward the Sun,” Dr. Loeb wrote in an article published Saturday on Medium.

Dr. Loeb also noted that the jets “could be linked to pockets of ice on the surface of a natural comet nucleus.” He added that the object will make its closest approach to Earth on December 19, writing: “Over the next month, by measuring the jets’ ejection velocity, mass flow, and composition, it will be easy to test whether 3I/ATLAS is natural or technological.”

“Let’s hope 3I/ATLAS doesn’t bring unwanted gifts to Earth during the holiday season,” said Dr. Loeb, expressing skepticism about claims of a connection between two objects, given their vast separation:

“If C/2025 V1 did not use non-gravitational propulsion, it is not associated with 3I/ATLAS. The minimum distance between their orbits is 75 million kilometers (0.5 au), and without thrust, the objects have never been closer than 225 million kilometers (1.5 au). The measured non-gravitational acceleration of 3I/ATLAS is insufficient to close that gap.”

In a recently published paper, Dr. Loeb wrote that the object’s non-gravitational acceleration recorded by NASA last week, combined with the fact that it “shines bluer than the Sun,” may “indicate a technological trace of an internal engine.”