Is cyanide from 3I/ATLAS raining down on Earth as it passes by? Harvard scientist weighs in

Is it cropdusting Earth with toxins?

When 3I/ATLAS made its fly-by of Earth on December 19, Harvard scientist Avi Loeb questioned if it may’ve delivered an early Xmas current — poison particles raining down on our planet.

“Will any of the fabric shed by 3I/ATLAS arrive on Earth?” the astrophysicist posited in a brand new submit on Medium.

He referenced a widespread concern that the gasoline plume round 3I/ATLAS — which was noticed glowing inexperienced throughout its method to the Solar — is thought to “comprise cyanide and hydrogen cyanide.”

“Hydrogen cyanide at giant concentrations is a poison,” Loeb beforehand instructed the Put up, noting the gasoline’s use as a chemical weapon throughout World Conflict I.

The scientist famous observations by the Atacama Massive Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), a radio telescope in Chile that detected quantities of methanol and hydrogen cyanide within the cosmic physique over the autumn.

This made him marvel if the interstellar comet represented “a serial killer spreading poison” — like an intergalactic cyanide pill.

Fortuitously, we don’t have to brace for deep affect — Loeb speculated that photo voltaic wind would forestall any doubtlessly toxic payload from reaching us.

“Given the mass loss fee measured by the Webb Area Telescope, the gasoline round 3I/ATLAS can be swept up by the photo voltaic wind at a distance of only a few million kilometers (a number of million miles) from 3I/ATLAS,” he wrote.

For reference, ATLAS was 170 million miles away from Earth throughout its closest method on December 19.

Loeb theorized that tiny mud particles, which measure lower than a micrometer, can be swept away by photo voltaic radiation strain whereas bigger objects would dissipate in Earth’s ambiance, supplied they measured lower than three toes.

Particles bigger than that, in the meantime, would have a negligible likelihood of impacting the planet because of the velocity of the comet’s off-gassing and its distance from Earth.

“Given the mass loss fee of 3I/ATLAS, there are lower than one million of those giant objects launched in latest months,” wrote Loeb, noting that their far-off origins implies that “the closest amongst them won’t ever get nearer than ten instances the Earth’s radius.”

Nevertheless, he cheekily famous that the result may very well be completely different if mentioned projectiles can “maneuver by technological propulsion.”

Loeb, who has caught to his weapons relating to ATLAS’ potential synthetic origins, beforehand theorized that 3I/ATLAS’ weird trajectory means that it’s dispatching “satellites” to Jupiter to assemble intel for an “extraterrestrial civilization.”

Loeb instructed The Put up that the comet 3I/ATLAS may use its time close to gasoline large— which it should attain on March 16, 2026 — to “seed” it with extra probes.