Overview
- Processed observations shared on Nov. 9 show two sunward anti‑tail jets extending roughly 0.95 million km and a longer tail reaching about 2.85 million km.
- JPL has detected a measurable non‑gravitational acceleration acting on the object, indicating its motion is being influenced by more than solar gravity.
- NASA states there is no immediate threat to Earth, with the closest approach projected for Dec. 19 at roughly 269–270 million km.
- Harvard’s Avi Loeb contends the features could imply a mass exceeding 50 billion tons and raises a technological‑origin hypothesis, which remains unproven and is contested by many researchers.
- Observation campaigns involving ground and space assets are underway, though missions like Juno and ESA’s JUICE are expected to observe from tens of millions of kilometers without intercept, and circulating ‘large vessel’ footage remains unverified.