A viral swirl around a so-called alien interstellar comet proves how extreme speculation can capture public attention
by Alan Boyle on December 6, 2025
Is there an interstellar spacecraft slipping through our solar system? That’s the central question driving interest among UFO enthusiasts—and a University of Washington researcher who studied the chatter around the interstellar object known as 3I/ATLAS.
Mert Bayar, a postdoctoral scholar at the UW Center for an Informed Public, examined how 3I/ATLAS became a magnet for sensational theories online. His goal was to understand how social-media personalities lean into dramatic, speculative narratives to fill gaps in what is known.
“I’ve written before about how expert statements can fuel conspiracy talk through elite-driven rumors and amplification,” Bayar explained to GeekWire. “My background in philosophy, epistemology, and the politics of conspiracy, plus a personal interest in space-related mysteries, drew me to a closer look at 3I/ATLAS.”
Bayar’s study, published this week as “Alien of the Gaps: How 3I/ATLAS Was Turned into a Spaceship Online,” borrows its title from the classic “God of the Gaps” idea. That concept tracks how people historically explained the unknown by invoking higher powers. In ancient Greece, those powers were the gods on Mount Olympus; today, Bayar argues, the substitute is a modern version of higher agency—extraterrestrials instead of Zeus.
The debate surged in July when 3I/ATLAS appeared on astronomers’ radar as a potential third interstellar visitor entering our solar system. Although subsequent analysis classified it as a comet, its unusual behavior kept alien-theory speculation alive.
So how did the alien hypothesis persist? A pivotal figure is Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb. Long before 3I/ATLAS was identified, Loeb and collaborators suggested that another interstellar object, ‘Oumuamua, might be an intentional probe from an advanced civilization rather than a natural object.
Loeb has revisited the alien-technology angle in follow-up papers and a 2023 book. The 3I/ATLAS discovery this year has given new momentum to his speculative line of thought. To map how these ideas shaped online conversations about 3I/ATLAS, Bayar used Brandwatch to analyze roughly 700,000 X posts from July 1 to November 21.
“Nearly 280,000 of those posts reach for aliens or extraterrestrial tech—about 40% of the 3I/ATLAS dialogue on X,” Bayar notes. Around 130,000 posts mention Loeb by name or title, and more than 82,000 explicitly tether his name to the alien-technology hypothesis.
Bayar points out that Loeb sometimes cautions that 3I/ATLAS is likely a natural interstellar comet. Yet he also spends considerable time detailing supposed anomalies and entertaining the alien-technology scenario. For many readers, the sheer volume and emphasis of that speculation effectively drowns out the natural-comet explanation.
This dynamic feeds into what Bayar calls a broader online ecosystem—the “mystery economy.”
“Our information systems reward the creation of mystery and conjecture,” he writes. “That reward is amplified by an already present network of websites and content creators across platforms who generate, spread, and amplify speculative takes. Those creators need a steady stream of ‘new’ material, and Loeb’s growing list of anomalies—even when NASA and others push back—helps sustain a sense of mystery and endlessly recyclable content.”
If you’re curious about the alleged anomalies, Penn State astronomer Jason Wright, who studies exoplanets and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, walks through Loeb’s list and offers natural-planet explanations in a blog post from last month.
But Bayar’s core takeaway focuses on social-media dynamics rather than planetary science. The lessons from studying the Alien of the Gaps could apply to other conspiratorial narratives—from vaccine skepticism to pursuit of elusive Jan. 6 leads.
Bayar limited his statistical analysis to posts about 3I/ATLAS on X, yet he observed cross-platform information flow. One of the most repeated terms in the X conversation is “@YouTube,” suggesting many X users are reacting to or sharing YouTube videos.
“Because of data-access limits, a single ‘nexus’ of spread can’t be identified with confidence,” Bayar said. “What’s clear is that the conversation on X is broad but still largely contained within alien-adjacent communities. Total volume remains under a million posts, indicating it hasn’t—at least yet—become a mass-viral story beyond UFO/UAP circles.”
That could change. 3I/ATLAS will make its closest approach to Earth on December 19, opening more chances for astronomical imagery and renewed speculation.
Special thanks to Julien De Winter for permission to republish a November 25 image of 3I/ATLAS captured by Victor Sabet and De Winter with a Starfront Observatories telescope in Texas.
