Using HiRISE Pixels to Constrain Size and Mass

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb joins Brian Keating to discuss a groundbreaking observation: the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has imaged 3I/ATLAS, a rare interstellar visitor, from the vantage point of Mars.

In this episode, we explore:

• What HiRISE detected and why it matters for planetary science.

• How interstellar objects like ʻOumuamua and 3I/ATLAS challenge our theories.

• Why Mars may become an ideal outpost for detecting future interstellar visitors.

• The implications for astrobiology, planetary defense, and our search for extraterrestrial technology.

✨ Just as the 1977 “Wow! Signal” jolted radio astronomers with a one-time unexplained burst, 3I/ATLAS may be its optical cousin—an anomalous, fleeting, but potentially transformative messenger. Loeb even calculated that 3I/ATLAS’s trajectory passed within about one degree of the Wow! Signal’s sky position, making the connection more than metaphorical. Ignoring such rare alignments risks repeating history: anomalies slip through our fingers while orthodoxy insists nothing unusual happened. The Wow! Signal warned us of the danger of complacency; 3I/ATLAS reminds us that cosmic surprises often lurk at the margins of expectation, carrying lessons we may miss if we force every mystery into old categories.

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🚀 EXCLUSIVE: Avi Loeb Reveals What HiRISE Just Saw on Mars! 🌌

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb joins me to discuss the latest revelations about interstellar object 3I/ATLAS as it makes its closest approach to Mars. From HiRISE images to unusual chemistry, polarization anomalies, and even a potential link to the Wow! Signal, this conversation explores whether 3I/ATLAS is a natural comet—or a possible technological artifact. Along the way, we cover censorship from Galileo to today’s UAP debates, the “Sputnik moment” of interstellar objects, and what a global response might look like.

⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 – Introduction & why this day is special

1:29 – 3I/ATLAS closest approach to Mars: HiRISE imaging

2:50 – Mass, size, and what it means for its trajectory

5:06 – Global spacecraft observing 3I/ATLAS (NASA, ESA, UAE, China)

7:21 – Explaining the anomalies: jets, chemical makeup, negative polarization

13:06 – Alignment with the plane of planets (0.2% likelihood)

14:31 – Coincidence with the Wow! Signal and radio SETI opportunities

18:52 – White paper to the UN: global response to interstellar visitors

24:21 – Perseverance rover possible detection of ATLAS

29:47 – Nickel–iron anomaly and unusual chemistry

36:44 – Science inefficiency & missed discoveries (Hot Jupiters analogy)

43:29 – Why critics are wrong about “just a comet”

55:04 – Galileo, Pinker, and common knowledge parallels to UAP debates

1:01:20 – Peer review, censorship, and suppression in modern science

1:03:59 – Anti-science, conspiracy theories, and science communication

1:11:55 – Risk vs. safety in research; why scientists avoid anomalies

1:23:28 – China, Mars samples, and the race for extraterrestrial life

1:37:32 – JWST chemistry results: carbon dioxide vs water

1:41:42 – Should we send signals to 3I/ATLAS?

1:44:12 – Wake-up call for humanity & final reflections

️ The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast has featured 22 Nobel Prize winners, Fields Medalist Terence Tao, and legendary mathematician Jim Simons. Subscribe to join the conversation at the frontiers of science, math, and technology.

👉 What do YOU think HiRISE really saw? Could 3I/ATLAS change how we understand our place in the cosmos? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

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