SETI Investigates Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
There are no signs of extraterrestrial technology on comet 3I/ATLAS, which visited the inner part of the Solar System. This was reported by researchers at the SETI Institute after conducting a series of studies of this interstellar object.
There are no signs of extraterrestrial technology on comet 3I/ATLAS, which visited the inner part of the Solar System. This was reported by researchers at the SETI Institute after conducting a series of studies of this interstellar object in the radio spectrum.
Discovered last summer, comet 3I/ATLAS made quite a stir at the end of that year. It is only the third known interstellar object, prompting many to ask scientists whether it could actually be a spacecraft from another civilization. Now, the leading extraterrestrial hunters in the scientific community — the SETI Institute — have officially answered that question.
They published the results of their research in the Astronomical Journal. The article provides a very specific answer: there are no extraterrestrial technologies emitting radio signals from the comet. This means that, most likely, there are no traces of a civilization that is 11 billion years old, which is the estimated age of this cosmic iceberg.
The scientists' confidence is based on the analysis of radio astronomical studies conducted at the time when everyone was shouting about the arrival of aliens. In October 2025, 3I/ATLAS flew within 30 million km of Mars, where it was observed by NASA's instruments in orbit. In December, the interstellar object came to its closest distance to our planet, allowing scientists to study it using radio antennas.
What the Research Showed
When the scientists conducted their research, the distance between Earth and 3I/ATLAS was 167 million km, and the session lasted about 7 hours. During this time, they were able to identify 74 million various radio signals, almost all of which had no relation to the comet.
Among these, 200 turned out to be emissions from our own transmitters in orbit and on the surface of the Earth, which reflected off the comet. This allows us to rule out the possibility that we simply cannot capture the signals coming from this celestial body.
However, there are no signals at all. No traces of anyone having placed their equipment on the comet. It is now moving away from the Sun and will never return. The distance to it is 1.3 billion km. This ancient iceberg, estimated to be between 440 m and 5.6 km in size, continues its journey.
Based on materials from phys.org
