The cosmos has delivered an enigma that has shaken parts of the scientific community and reignited age-old questions about life beyond Earth.
Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed visitor from outside our Solar System, is defying standard comet behaviour in ways that have prompted Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb to raise possibilities that extend beyond traditional astrophysics. Its unusual structures, captured in high-resolution space telescope data, have become the focal point of an intense scientific debate.
