The enigmatic interstellar visitor, known as 3I/ATLAS, is exhibiting a peculiar ‘heartbeat,’ causing it to shine more brightly as it approaches Earth in the coming weeks.

Recent telescope observations have captured rhythmic outbursts of gas and dust, referred to as jets, emanating from the object every 16.16 hours, creating a steady pulse akin to a heartbeat.

This pulsating phenomenon results in the object’s brightness fluctuating between 20 and 40 percent in a consistent, repetitive pattern, prompting some to speculate that 3I/ATLAS may not be a naturally occurring comet.

However, both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have classified it as a lifeless comet, confirming that no signs of extraterrestrial life have been detected from the object.

The likely natural explanation for these pulses is the rotation of the object’s solid core, which completes a turn every 16.16 hours. As pockets of ice on its surface are exposed to the sun, they vaporize, releasing jets of gas with clockwork precision.

This is believed to happen because the Sun’s warmth hits those exact ice spots at the same point in each spin, blasting material outward at about 985mph and spraying the timed bursts over distances up to roughly 15,900 miles.

While the comet’s spin has provided a convenient reason for the precise timing, Harvard Professor Avi Loeb pointed out that it still doesn’t explain the glowing pulses coming from the object as it makes it closest pas by Earth on December 19.

Loeb noted that the pulsations of light were strange because almost all the light telescopes saw comes from the coma, an enormous cloud of gas and dust that can stretch hundreds of thousands of miles, not from the object’s dark rocky center.

New images of 3I/ATLAS taken by the Nordic Optical Telescope in Spain have just been released and show the alleged comet has not broken apart

Stargazers recently captured brand new clear images of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS using lower quality telescopes compared to those used by NASA

If the core is the only thing spinning and shooting out bursts, the giant cloud should  have acted like a big soft blanket that washes out or dilutes the sharp flashes.

Loeb explained that, in that case, the overall brightness would barely wiggle, possibly increasing by up to five percent instead of the much larger and brighter flashes telescopes have actually seen.

The astrophysicist and UFO researcher suggested this could be another sign 3I/ATLAS is an unnatural object because the strong, heartbeat-like pulsing doesn’t fit the usual picture of a simple comet from space.

He has previously noted 12 anomalies that scientists have yet to fully explain, including a cometary tail pointing in the wrong direction, the object turning blue near the sun, and course changes that defy gravity.

NASA has dismissed any irregularities being recorded as a byproduct of the object coming from a distant solar system likely composed of a completely different chemical makeup than comets from our own system.

The pulsations were discovered by astronomers carefully measuring how the object’s glow brightened and dimmed over time using ground-based telescopes, with the repeating 16.16-hour pattern first reported in a scientific paper in August 2025.

The ‘heartbeat’ of 3I/ATLAS is believed to have been pulsing since at least the object entered our solar system, potentially for weeks or months before its discovery, as they tie to its ongoing spin and sun-heating process. 

Although NASA and the United Nations has said the supposed comet poses no threat to Earth and will only get within 170 million miles on December 19, researchers are using the close pass to prepare for future cosmic threats.

Amateur stargazers have recently taken clear image of 3I/ATLAS, as the object has now moved close enough to Earth to see with common telescopes

The object has also developed an anti-tail point toward the sun and two massive jets shooting material out into space

The UN confirmed that Earth’s planetary defenses started observing the interstellar object on November 27 as it exits the solar system.

A global team of scientists with the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) kicked off the two–month campaign, which may help improve comet and asteroid surveillance that spots future threats nearing Earth.

Although the overwhelming consensus has been that 3I/ATLAS is a comet, Loeb has said that scientists should not dismiss the possibility that the object could be technological.

‘Here we are talking about a potential for something that could affect humanity in the future in a dramatic way, and so you shouldn’t apply the same approach of being as conservative as possible,’ Loeb told the Daily Mail in October.