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Technosignature Protocols Proposed as 3I/ATLAS Precovery Extends Its Track

Most measurements point to an active interstellar comet, with coordinated observations proceeding through the fall.

Overview

  • An international team led by James R. A. Davenport released a preprint outlining four technosignature search categories for interstellar objects and urging that such checks be built into routine follow-ups as discovery rates rise.
  • Multiple facilities, including Webb, Hubble and the Allen Telescope Array, have targeted 3I/ATLAS, and researchers report that available data remain most consistent with a natural origin.
  • Gemini South imaging shows a faint tail pointing away from the Sun and an expanded coma, while separate reports cite CO₂-dominated outgassing with estimated rates near 130 kg/s for CO₂ and far lower for water and CO.
  • A Daily Galaxy report says archival TESS imagery captured the object roughly two months before its official discovery, with a study under review indicating the longer arc refines trajectory modeling.
  • Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb has speculated about a tiny precursor probe potentially reaching Mars and has urged HiRISE imaging, a claim that remains unconfirmed and is not widely accepted by the community.