In our monthly Order of the Sacred Earth meeting this week, I brought up the topic of 3I/Atlas now occupying astronomers around the world. If “ecology is functional cosmology,” as Thomas Berry instructs us, the possibility that a cosmic artifact over seven billion years old is visiting our solar system and even communicating with us is pretty significant news for sure. And something surely worthy of our contemplation.
I find it most exciting to contemplate — whether it is true or not
— that this largest of all visiting comets we have sighted might not be a comet at all, but an artifact created by a civilization billions of years ago that may well be extinct. I say worthy of contemplation, whether it is true or not, because if it is true, as one Harvard scientist has put it, this marks November 18, 2025, as the most significant day in the history of the human race: The day we truly encountered a visitor from another galaxy. (As a Christian, however, I believe God’s incarnation into human history is the most significant day in human history.)
Even if 3I/Atlas is just a comet, its being an engineered object is still a marvel to meditate on, a work of science fiction that can excite our imaginations about possibilities of encountering advanced life from other spheres in the future (not to discount other encounters that may already have occurred).
It is also striking to me that we are having this discussion in Thanksgiving season because such speculation—whether of something real, or of something imagined—ought to trigger thanks for our imaginations and our science and our technological instruments that can learn about such visitors and get down to concrete analysis. The possibility that intelligence far more advanced than ours exists elsewhere in the universe (or did in the past), and we can encounter it, is for me a cause of deep gratitude and awe, and gratitude for our powers of awe.
A reminder that our existence, creativity, technology, curiosity, and capacity to interact with others should not be taken for granted. All of it is a gift.
Furthermore, I see in such an encounter the possibility of humankind waking up to what counts, instead of carrying on the banal folly of war and hatred and envy against our own kin and kind. Can it bring us together as a species?
For this is a fact: Telescopes and astronomers from all over the world are at this time focusing on this fascinating object. From China and South Africa, Russia and Chile, Hawaii and Europe, humans are focusing on something other than our petty wars and plans for vengeance and recriminations. Indeed, the best sightings we have so far are from a Chinese satellite that was photographing near Mars when Chinese astronomers turned that apparatus toward 3I/Atlas instead, since it was the nearest satellite to that object.
Let us consider why some scientists are giving a 35 to 40% probability that we are dealing with something other than a comet. (NASA is playing very conservative about that possibility, however.) The key is that this “comet” is behaving in ways that contradict present-day knowledge of how comets operate. In fact, about thirteen “anomalies” have been detected. Among them are the following:
Harvard physicist Avi Loeb has detected that a trajectory alignment exists in this object with Jupiter that is “extraordinary” and is statistically improbable for a natural body like a comet. In addition, it boasts an “incredibly precise trajectory,” an unexpected non-gravitational acceleration, and jet activity that is unlike typical comet outgassing. He thinks that it exhibits an “intentional navigation” that is unlike the random chance navigation of a free-wheeling comet. Thrusters may be fine-tuning its trajectory.
Loeb’s orbital models recognize that 3I/Atlas is heading to pass “almost precisely” along the zone where Jupiter’s gravity overtakes that of the sun and is doing so “with remarkable precision.” The level of alignment is so precise that he believes it is statistically improbable, were it happening randomly. The object should arrive closest to Jupiter on March 16, 2026.
But it will be closest to Earth this December 19, and no doubt we will learn much more about it then with so many telescopes on Earth and in Earth’s orbit aimed at it. Stay tuned.
*Louise Bonquin, “3I/ATLAS: NASA Says It’s Comet but Avi Loeb Disagrees As Newly-Discovered Anomaly Suggests Alien Tech,” International Business Times, 11/24/25.
Banner Image: Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS, only the third confirmed interstellar visitor to our Solar System. Image by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) at International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the Scientist, Cerro Pachón, Chile, on Wikimedia Commons
Queries for Contemplation
What are your thoughts and feelings about this visitor from at least seven billion years ago? Do you feel such a visitation could incite humanity to get smarter and more grateful about its continued existence in the universe?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society, pp. 301-304.
Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages
Stations of the Cosmic Christ
11 thoughts on “3I/Atlas: A Visit From a Far-Distant Civilization?”
Discovering that 31/Atlas is a cosmic artifact (or a boomerang from a previous earth civilization!) would indeed be of unimaginable consequences, although science fiction books, films and TV series tend to show that our conception of a potential contact with extraterrestrial creatures is hopelessly colonial and bellicose. As the joke goes: The proof that intelligence exists somewhere else in the universe is that they did not contact us.
A notable exception is “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and we should take heed of the array of human characters depicted in that wonderful novella: the businessman, the vain man, the drunkard, the geographer, the king and the lamplighter. No wonder that, like E.T., the Little Prince went home. In the afterword, the author pleads: “Wait for a time, exactly under the star. Then, if a little man appears who laughs, who has golden hair and refuses to answer questions, you will know who he is. If this should happen, please comfort me. Send me word that he has come back.”
May 31/Atlas fulfill that dream.
Always enjoy your comments.
Thanks, Dennis
Thank you, Matthew. You expand our awareness.
I appreciate that Creation Spirituality is very wholistic and includes not only the studies of our inner spiritual lives such as past and present saints, mystics, and artists, but also with our Sacred outer lives with compassionate concerns about social justice and deeper understanding of the physical/nonphysical spiritual beings/dimensions of Our multidimensional and multiverse creative and evolving Loving Beautiful Cosmos….
I wish I could be as optimistic as you but no way humanity will ever break out of its self-centred greed and begin to live the life that could be. What more confirmation do you need for this than the government of the USA.
Sadly, I agree. The malignant narcissism just seems to keep spreading and evolving into bottomless depravity. Any imagination is geared toward getting more, not in opening up hearts and minds. The Buddhist notion of the Hungry Ghost describes the people in power.
Thank you, Matthew, for drawing attention to AI/Atlas although I would suspect that 99% of humanity is not even aware of it. As for it being able to shift our thought pattern towards a more inspired, cosmic appreciation, I’d say that the odds are even greater than 99% that this will not happen. Afterall, recent footage shown in the US Congress of a Hellfire missile being brushed off a UAP (Unidentified Anomolous Phenomena) more or less passed without serious media attention. It is to be hoped that a “Star” hovering over a stable (Matthew 2, 1-12), or someone ascending in a cloud (Acts 1, 9-11) might bring a more inspired understanding to terrestrials that evolved life does indeed exist beyond our tiny planet and that we are not alone in the Universe…
Yes Rich, I am afraid I do agree with you. Wish it were not so.
Excites my imagination. What if it has beings aboard we cannot see but are none the less physical? How could we, would we act and react?
We shall never be able to connect with these cosmic adventurers. Secretary Hegseth will blow them out of the sky and kill them all. Should they ever get to our borders, Secretary Noem will stop them and demand they return to their cosmic home of origin. President Trump will say, “I know nothing about it”. Sad 😔
What a missed opportunity for universal connection, understanding, compassion, peace, and so much more!
What reasons does the author give for contemplating the nature of 3I/Atlas, even if it turns out to be only a comet?
Regard : S2 Akuntansi