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Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 16, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

Jump in the discussion.

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What do our UFO/UAP enthusiasts make of 3I/Atlas, the interstellar object hurtling through space? I may be wrong but I somehow had @Primaprimaprima as the resident UAP expert.

I recently read an interview with Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb that makes him sound either overly imaginative or Cassandra-like in his analysis of the object, which he says:

is 10 times longer than it is wide

was pushed away from the sun for some reason

followed the plane of the planets around the sun

doesn't appear to have the expected comet 'tail'

All wild conjecture appreciated.

Avi Loeb is somewhat famous for banging the ET drum for years at this point. No idea about this particular object though.

Yeah, his discussion around 1I/‘Oumuamua was one of my examples for crank-on-organization wars, and while that doesn't mean he's wrong (of other examples, Hirsch ended up winning his fight pretty clearly), it doesn't give a ton of strength on its own.