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To the disappointment of Judgment Day fans, The Rapture did not happen as predicted at the end of September, but keep your fingers crossed for November, when aliens are expected to invade. This one’s a way more concrete prediction than the Rapture. Unlike Jesus, we can actually see the alien starship in our telescopes, cleverly disguised as an interstellar comet. And it’s not just conspiracy theorists or Joe Rogan Podcast guests sounding the alarm—a Harvard astrophysicist kicked off the whole thing. So hold on to your butt!
The ballad of 3I/ATLAS
Back in July, NASA spotted 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar comet about the size of Manhattan, passing through our solar system on its journey from God knows where. This is only the third interstellar comet we’ve ever spotted, so it’s a big deal.
In September, Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb (who had a long, legit career until recently) published “News on 3I/ATLAS: Lack of Non-Gravitational Acceleration Implies an Anomalously Massive Object” which posits that the comet could be a giant spaceship that is going to fly behind the Sun on Oct. 21 (hey, that’s the day I’m posting this!), and while it’s shielded from our view, the “potentially hostile” comet/spaceship could do all kinds of aerial maneuvers, release a squadron of X-wings, or really anything. Then he appeared on a bunch of podcasts and news shows to talk about his “it could be aliens!” idea and it spread in mainstream press.
The cranks took over from there, connecting Loeb’s observations with the prophecies of “Baba Vanga” (a blind, Bulgarian fortune teller that cuckoos love), lies about NASA, Loeb’s own invocation of the “Dark Forest” theory (where hostile aliens lurk silently waiting to strike), and everything else you could image, then they used AI to make videos about the invasion. So many AI videos about the invasion.
So are aliens landing in November?
I wouldn’t bet on it. If you read Loeb’s papers or listen to interviews with him, it’s clear he’s careful to never make any predictions. He says things like 3I/Atlas “could be on a mission to release mini probes meant to invade Earth,” or “If it’s a technological object, then it might maneuver itself.”
Oh, it could be on mission? It might do something? I could be about to grow 17 heads, and I might release mini probes too. Loeb is not wrong, technically, nor is he lying, but he’s not being entirely honest either, because he doesn’t follow up his statements with “…but it’s so unlikely, it’s barely worth considering.”
And this isn’t the first time he’s done this.
What’s the deal with Avi Loeb?
Remember 1I/ʻOumuamua? That cigar-shaped interstellar object people thought was an extraterrestrial probe in 2017? Loeb started that, too. He co-authored a paper suggesting it could be a lightsail—a thin, artificial sheet propelled by starlight—sent by an alien civilization. A possibility, but surprise! it turned out to be a comet.
Then there was the meteor. In 2022, Loeb claimed that a meteor that crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2014 was interstellar in origin and possibly technological. He dredged up fragments from the ocean floor, and held press conferences about the “spherules” that might be alien technology. After sighing heavily, other scientists responded with: “Sure, it might be alien technology, but it isn’t,” and I hope they added, “why don’t we put some money on the next ‘space probe?'”
It’s a pattern: Loeb makes a qualified outrageous claim, gets the headlines (“Harvard Scientist: Comet Could Be Alien Spaceship!”) while hedging enough to say “I never said it was aliens” when the prediction fizzles. He seems to be trying to raise awareness about how we think about extraterrestrial life and push against the knee-jerk scientific dismissal of the subject, but the way he’s doing it is questionable.
Science isn’t sexy enough
In 2025, “We should carefully study this unusual object” doesn’t land you a book contract and media blitz like “Could this be an alien invasion fleet?” does, but it also doesn’t corrode public trust in science, and legitimate scientists studying interstellar objects, searching for biosignatures, and working on SETI get drowned out by the noise.
And what happens in November? Our Venusian Sky Brothers might descend upon Earth with cake and ice cream for all, but I’m putting my money on the cranks moving on to flat-Earth theories or weather machines, while Loeb generates headlines in a few months with another “this time, it really might be aliens!” object.
