Avi Loeb reflects on what 3I/ATLAS reveals about humanity’s place in the universe

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has flown by Earth, coming as close as 268.91 million kilometers to the planet. 

Despite the buzz around the comet and speculations about its alien origin, potentially being a threat to human civilization, popularized by Harvard professor Avi Loeb, 3I/ATLAS has crossed Earth without posing any danger to it.

After the comet was discovered on July 1, 2025, NASA officials assured people that the interstellar object was merely a visitor and would not put the planet at any risk.

Now that the comet has safely passed by Earth, Loeb is shedding light on what it reveals about humanity’s place in the universe. 

In a new essay published on Medium on December 20, 2025, Loeb delivered the message that, unlike the popular belief that humans comprise an important part of the universe, science, specifically 3I/ATLAS, proved that Earth is not the center of everything because there are billions of star systems in the universe, most much older than Earth. 

He spoke about how the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS ignored Earth, dismissing the idea that extraterrestrial objects or aliens might want to visit Earth because of an interest in humans. 

He then conceded his theory of 3I/ATLAS potentially being alien technology, confirming that it showed no sign of intelligent behavior. 

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb looks forward to observing 3I/ATLAS as it makes its closest approach to Jupiter

Loeb started his essay by pointing out the “popular view” that visitors from outer space might visit Earth because of their “interest in our home.”

“Well, guess what: if you are late to a party and you are not at the center of the room, the party is not about you. Not only are we not at the center of the universe, we are also not at the center of attention for interstellar visitors,” he said. 

On December 19, 2025, when the interstellar comet made its closest approach to Earth, passing by at a distance of 168 million miles, it did not impact or affect Earth in any way. 

According to Loeb, it was a “blunt message-in-a-bottle” for humans, a reminder that not everything revolved around them. 

The Harvard physicist then stated that as 3I/ATLAS passed Earth, it did not “maneuver or display any unusual activity,” confirming that the interstellar object behaved exactly like a comet. 

“Its trajectory is aligned to within 5 degrees with the ecliptic plane, but it avoided Earth by passing on the other side of the sun relative to us on October 29, 2025,” he added. 

That said, Loeb explained that with a speed of 60 km/hour, 3I/ATLAS must have taken billions of years to enter the Milky Way galaxy. At the time, when the interstellar object began its journey, humans had not even come into existence. 

So, to think that an interstellar visitor had entered the galaxy solely to make contact with humans was baseless, he said.

“Humans arrived late to the local cosmic party, only to witness the last 0.0001 of the Milky-Way history. Given that, we should not be surprised that interstellar visitors – who attended the party for much longer, did not plan to dance with us,” Loeb said. 

According to him, Jupiter served a better purpose of acting as an outsider’s “center of attention,” primarily because of its mass, which is 318 times the mass of Earth. 

With that, Loeb looks forward to studying the images and data that will be released as the interstellar comet travels in the solar system, especially when 3I/ATLAS will make its closest approach to Jupiter on March 16, 2026. 

Stay tuned for more updates.