What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: Will There Be an Alien Invasion in November?
To the disappointment of Doomsday fans, the Rapture didn’t happen as predicted in late September, but keep your fingers crossed for November, when an alien invasion is expected. This prediction is far more concrete than the Rapture. Unlike Jesus, we can actually see an alien ship through our telescopes, cleverly disguised as an interstellar comet. And it’s not just conspiracy theorists or guests on Joe Rogan’s podcast sounding the alarm—a Harvard astrophysicist started the idea. So hold on to your butts!
Ballad of 3I/ATLAS
In July, NASA spotted 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar comet roughly the size of Manhattan, flying through our solar system from somewhere far away. It’s only the third interstellar comet we’ve ever observed, so it’s a big deal.
In September, Harvard astrophysicistAvi Loeb (who until recently had a long and successful career) published a paper, ” 3I/ATLAS Update: Lack of Non-Gravity Acceleration Points to Anomalously Massive Object ,” arguing that the comet could be a giant spacecraft that will fly behind the Sun on October 21 (hey, that’s the day I’m writing this!). And while hidden from view, the “potentially hostile” comet/spacecraft could perform all sorts of aerial maneuvers, deploy a squadron of X-wing fighters, and all sorts of other things. He then appeared on several podcasts and news programs to pitch his “it could be aliens!” idea, and it gained traction in mainstream media.
Then the weirdos got to work, linking Loeb’s observations to the prophecies of “Baba Vanga ” ( a blind Bulgarian fortune teller favored by cuckoos), lies about NASA , Loeb’s own claims about the “Dark Forest” theory (where hostile aliens silently wait for the right moment to strike), and everything else imaginable , and then, using AI, they made videos of the invasion . So many AI videos of the invasion .
So will aliens land in November?
I wouldn’t bet on it. If you read Loeb’s articles or listen to his interviews, it becomes clear that he tries never to make any predictions. He says, for example, that 3I/Atlas ” could be designed to launch mini-probes designed to invade Earth,” or that ” if it’s a technological object , it can maneuver.”
Oh, maybe he’s on a mission? Maybe he’ll do something? Maybe I’ll grow 17 heads now and maybe I’ll release mini-probes. Technically, Loeb isn’t wrong or lying, but he’s also not being entirely honest because he doesn’t back up his statements with the phrase “…but it’s so unlikely it’s hardly worth thinking about.”
And this is not the first time he has done this.
What happened to Avi Loeb?
Remember 1I/ʻOumuamua ? That cigar-shaped interstellar object that people mistook for an extraterrestrial probe in 2017? That, too, was started by Loeb. He co-authored a paper suggesting it might be a lightsail—a thin, artificial sheet propelled by starlight—sent by an alien civilization. Perhaps so, but—surprise!—it turned out to be a comet.
And then there was the meteor. In 2022, Loeb claimed that the meteorite that fell into the Pacific Ocean in 2014 was of interstellar origin and possibly technological. He recovered fragments from the ocean floor and held press conferences about “spherules” that might be alien technology . Other scientists sighed heavily and responded, “Sure, it could be alien technology, but it’s not,” and hopefully added, “Why don’t we invest in the next ‘space probe’?”
It’s a pattern: Loeb makes an outrageous claim with caveats, makes headlines (“Harvard Scientist: Comet Could Be Alien Spacecraft!”), and then, when his prediction fails, rushes to say, “I never said they were aliens.” He seems to be trying to draw attention to our perceptions of extraterrestrial life and counter the instinctive scientific dismissal of the topic, but the manner in which he does so is questionable.
Science Isn’t Sexy Enough
In 2025, the phrase “We should study this unusual object carefully” won’t lead to a book deal and media hype like “Could this be an alien invasion fleet ?”, but it also won’t undermine public trust in science, and the real scientists studying interstellar objects, searching for biosignatures, and working on SETI will be drowned out by the noise.
And what’s going to happen in November? Our celestial brethren from Venus might descend upon Earth with cake and ice cream for everyone, but I’m betting the cranks will move on to flat-Earth theories or weather machines, and Loeb will make headlines in a few months with another “this time it really could be aliens!” object.