Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

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

15 snips
Oct 4, 2025
Avi Loeb, a Harvard astrophysicist and director of the Galileo Project, shares groundbreaking insights on the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS recently observed by NASA's HiRISE camera. He discusses the significance of these images for planetary science and why this rare visitor may reshape our understanding of cosmic phenomena. Loeb highlights intriguing anomalies such as its extreme polarization and potential technosignatures. He emphasizes the importance of observing these mysteries and warns against the dangers of scientific complacency in the face of the unknown.
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Mars Orbiters Offer Highest-Resolution View

  • HiRISE on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter can image interstellar object 3I/ATLAS at ~30 km/pixel, offering unprecedented resolution.
  • That image can tightly constrain the object's size and surface area by using the brightest pixel and assumed albedo.
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No Recoil Implies Huge Mass

  • Motion analysis of 3I/ATLAS shows no detectable non-gravitational acceleration despite measured mass loss.
  • That implies a very large mass (>=33 billion tons) and a nucleus likely larger than ~5 km if solid.
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Sunward Jet Defies Comet Norms

  • 3I/ATLAS shows a sunward jet ten times longer than wide, unlike typical comet tails that point away from the Sun.
  • This unusual geometry could relate to the extreme negative polarization observed and remains unexplained.
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