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Although 3I/ATLAS is on its way out of our solar system, it continues to captivate Avi Loeb.
In a recent blog entry, the Harvard astrophysicist highlighted that the comet released an unexpectedly high amount of methane while traversing our galaxy. This observation led him to speculate whether this interstellar traveler might be seeding the universe with life.
“Could the methane released by 3I/ATLAS near the sun be a result of living processes?” wondered Loeb, who has previously proposed ideas about the comet’s origins.
The James Webb Space Telescope detected this significant methane release in December, Loeb noted.
He found the situation intriguing, as the outgassing was only observed when the comet passed close to the sun, causing its icy surface to sublimate and release gases.
He deemed this significant as methane is an important “biosignature” that, according to a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could be the “first detectable indication of life beyond Earth.”
Loeb theorized that the material shed by ATLAS’ sunward jet (anti-tail) — another sign of its possible extraterrestrial origins, per Loeb — could have “carried extrasolar life on dust or ice fragments towards habitable planets within the solar system.”
He compared this form of cosmic conception, dubbed panspermia, to a dandelion scattering its seeds to the wind.
Loeb speculated that said lifeforms could’ve lain dormant in the intergalactic iceberg, much like microbes hibernating in the permafrost for thousands of years.
When the sun thawed their delivery vehicle, this unleashed them into the cosmos like an interstellar Johnny Appleseed.
Unlike with your garden variety seed pod, however, this might not have been a random dispersal, but rather a targeted insemination.
“There is the possibility of directed panspermia, whereby an interstellar gardener seeded 3I/ATLAS on a fertilization mission targeting the habitable planets in the solar system,” Loeb theorized.
According to the scientists, this would explain other ATLAS anomalies discussed by Loeb, including the unique alignment between the solar system’s habitable planets and the comet’s trajectory.
“Whether the seeds of extrasolar life reach a fertile ground in the solar system remains to be seen,” said the scientist, who hopes we can discover more of these cosmic cryogenic pods in the future.
He said that should these interstellar icebergs be oriented similarly to ATLAS, then his hypothesis “will gain a higher likelihood.” Loeb said that our space agencies could confirm the existence of these space hitchhikers by intercepting and diagnosing their composition with a probe.
Doing so could perhaps shed light on the origins of life on our own planet, he claimed.
“In case it does [harbor life], the most pressing question is whether extrasolar life resembles life-as-we-know-it,” he said. “If so, perhaps life on Earth was seeded by an interstellar gardener.”