All the talk has been about 3I/ATLAS recently, with some thinking the comet could be an alien spaceship.
Experts, such as Professor Brian Cox, have expressed that it is actually just a comet, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting.
But while interests in it are high, let’s see what would happen if it collided with the moon… because why not?
Simulation Shows 3I/ATLAS Hitting the Moon
The YouTube channel SimulaVerse shared a chilling simulation, answering the question that nobody has asked.
The video notes that the comet, which is potentially seven billion years old, is traveling at a speed of around 58kms, which is around 120,000mph.
Luckily, it won’t come any closer than 270 million km to Earth, but that hasn’t stopped people worrying.
NASA shared a diagram showing the trajectory of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passes through the solar system. Credit: NASA
However, if it were to hit the moon, the video notes that it would release seven teratons of energy, which would create a massive crater on the surface of the natural satellite.
The impact flash of which would be visible from the Earth.
The comet’s water would pool around the impact crater, but given the lack of gravitational strength on the moon, it wouldn’t be able to retain any of it.
Once the water is gone, just the crater remains and moon rocks would be released which would give us our first lunar meteor shower.
So for the first time in history, we’ve just watched a simulation where the Earth isn’t obliterated.
Isn’t that nice?
Harvard astrophysicist: “It might be a spaceship”
One of the most prominent voices adding fuel to the fire is Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who’s no stranger to controversial cosmic claims.
Loeb has suggested that 3I/ATLAS may be more than a comet—it could be a “technological artefact” built by an advanced alien civilization.
He even estimates there’s a 30 to 40 percent chance that the object isn’t naturally formed.
Together with colleagues Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl, Loeb has published a paper exploring the possibility that this is a “potentially hostile” alien probe.
The theory takes a dramatic turn with Loeb’s suggestion that 3I/ATLAS might be deliberately adjusting its course as it nears Earth, implying it could be part of an intelligent plan. In the paper, Loeb proposes two paths: “First, that its intentions are entirely benign and second, they are malign.”
He categorizes the scenario as a potential “black swan event”—a term used to describe a rare, unpredictable, and impactful phenomenon, such as discovering alien life.
The comet has some people worried. Credit: NASA
Brian Cox shuts down the spaceship theory
While Loeb continues to champion the alien hypothesis, one prominent scientist has had enough.
Physicist and popular science communicator Professor Brian Cox has taken to social media to shut down the chatter, calling out the speculation as nonsense.
“Just to be clear – given recent drivel on line – Comet 3I/Atlas is a comet, made of carbon dioxide and water ices and bits of other stuff,” Cox wrote.
“It is entirely natural in origin, its orbit is as expected and it will whizz around the sun and then disappear off into the galaxy again.”
Cox emphasized that the object is likely a “pristine lump of rock and ices”, possibly formed in the aftermath of a dead star billions of years ago.
He added a hopeful note about its cosmic journey, saying that if it ever passes through another inhabited solar system, he hopes their intelligent life will “enjoy it for what it is – a visitor from elsewhere in the galaxy.”
