Comment posted by Bob
“The NASA has activated its Planetary Defense Network (aka Red de Defensa Planetaria) for the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1), marking the first time such a system has been deployed for an object originating outside the Solar System. This action was announced through a technical bulletin (MPEC 2025-U142) issued by the Minor Planet Center at Harvard, which formally launched the International Asteroid Warning Network’s (IAWN) Comet Astrometry Campaign. The campaign, scheduled from November 27, 2025, to January 27, 2026, will involve a coordinated global effort to observe 3I/ATLAS using major telescopes from locations such as Hawaii to Chile.
The official reason for the campaign is to “test improved astrometry methods,” indicating that the object’s behavior deviates from expected comet dynamics. Specifically, the object’s photometric center—the point of maximum brightness—does not align with its predicted gravitational center, suggesting an anomalous distribution of mass or light. This discrepancy, along with other unusual features like an “anti-tail” where a jet of particles points toward the Sun rather than away from it, has prompted concern among astronomers.
The timing of the campaign, which covers the object’s perihelion and closest approach to Earth, coincides with a period of peak visibility and instability. While NASA refers to the initiative as a “training exercise,” the scale and secrecy of the activation—conducted via a cryptic internal bulletin without public announcements or press briefings—have led some experts and commentators to interpret it as a “silent alarm” or a sign of significant concern. The involvement of the IAWN, a UN-endorsed group responsible for coordinating planetary defense responses to potential threats, underscores the seriousness of the situation, as such global drills are typically reserved for high-priority or anomalous objects.
The object’s extreme velocity—approximately 130,000 miles per hour—further complicates tracking and has drawn attention from military analysts, who see it as a test of global space-monitoring and early-warning systems. Although 3I/ATLAS poses no immediate danger to Earth, its behavior is challenging existing models for predicting the trajectories of celestial bodies, potentially exposing vulnerabilities in current surveillance networks. The campaign is thus not only a scientific exercise but also a real-world test of international coordination and response readiness for fast-moving, unpredictable interstellar objects.”