1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: Okay, just imagine this for a second. There's an object 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:05,879 up there racing through our Solar system, and it's not 3 00:00:05,919 --> 00:00:08,800 just following the rules. It's not just you know, obeying 4 00:00:08,839 --> 00:00:12,080 gravity like everything else from a planet down to a pebble. 5 00:00:12,519 --> 00:00:15,359 It seems to be actively defying them. 6 00:00:15,679 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 2: It really does. It's behaving erratically, it's accelerating without any 7 00:00:19,679 --> 00:00:24,600 obvious push, and its appearance, it's just turning all the 8 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:26,960 physics we know about comments completely on its head. 9 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:28,719 Speaker 1: It's the kind of thing you'd expect in a movie, right, 10 00:00:28,839 --> 00:00:30,039 a high drama sci fi. 11 00:00:30,039 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 2: Crisis, exactly something scientists might have kicked around, as you know, 12 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,840 a purely theoretical problem. But this is happening. We're watching 13 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:37,560 it in real time. 14 00:00:37,719 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to thrilling Threads. This is where we take all 15 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:42,640 the sources you've given us, pull on those threads and 16 00:00:42,679 --> 00:00:45,399 really unpack the essential knowledge you need to get up 17 00:00:45,399 --> 00:00:46,640 to speed and fast. 18 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,840 Speaker 2: And today we want to go beyond just the dramatic headlines. 19 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:52,920 We want to really understand the physics, or I guess 20 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,600 more accurately, the failure of known physics that's surrounding this visitor. 21 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:01,399 Speaker 1: Absolutely, our focus today is on the interstellar object known 22 00:01:01,439 --> 00:01:04,719 as three I Atlas, and we should probably clarify that 23 00:01:04,799 --> 00:01:08,120 name right at the top, the three I prefix. That's important. 24 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:11,480 It tells you this is only the third confirmed interstellar 25 00:01:11,519 --> 00:01:14,040 object we've ever seen passing through our Solar system. 26 00:01:14,159 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 2: Right, it follows one Iumuurma, the cigar shaped one, and 27 00:01:17,359 --> 00:01:20,760 then two ibores off which looked more like a traditional comment. 28 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: And the fact that we're already on number three and 29 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:26,200 seeing them this quickly, it kind of suggests these visitors 30 00:01:26,239 --> 00:01:27,920 might be a lot more common than we ever thought. 31 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 2: Well, if the first two gave us hints of strangeness, 32 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,640 three I Atlas is delivering a full blown scientific mystery. 33 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:39,079 We're going to explore exactly why this object seems to 34 00:01:39,079 --> 00:01:42,640 be defying the laws of physics, as it's well, as 35 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:44,280 it's apparently rushing towards our. 36 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,799 Speaker 1: Planet, and why that's triggered this constant monitoring from NASA, 37 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,879 from the European Space Agency, and even the UN's International 38 00:01:50,959 --> 00:01:52,959 Asteroid Warning Network. I mean, they're all watching. 39 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 2: The source material doesn't mince words. It's been called an 40 00:01:56,159 --> 00:02:00,000 interstellar enigma, one that is bending the very rules of physics. 41 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: So our mission today is to unpack the evidence behind 42 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,359 a claim that dramatic. We need to understand what happens 43 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,719 when the world space agencies all point their telescopes at 44 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:14,080 a single, profound mystery that is right now two hundred 45 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,199 and sixty nine million kilometers away from US. Okay, so 46 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:19,560 let's get into it. First. We have to talk about 47 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,639 the language being used, because it's pretty alarming. We're told 48 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:24,080 it's rushing towards our planet. 49 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 2: That definitely creates a certain impression. Doesn't it a sense 50 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:28,080 of alarm? 51 00:02:28,199 --> 00:02:31,879 Speaker 1: It does, But we need to clarify what rushing means here. Yes, 52 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:35,400 its speed is incredible, it's an interstellar object. But that 53 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:39,520 distance two hundred and sixty nine million kilometers, that's huge. 54 00:02:39,719 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 2: It is so the urgency here. It's not about planetary defense. 55 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,560 It's about scientific discovery. The window to study this thing 56 00:02:45,599 --> 00:02:47,199 is what's rushing by, and from. 57 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: A physics perspective, it's the journey itself that's so strange. 58 00:02:50,159 --> 00:02:52,599 The first big anomaly, and this is really the core 59 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:53,919 of it, is its acceleration. 60 00:02:54,159 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 2: Yes, scientists are to put it mildly puzzled. Three I 61 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,280 Atlas is clearly speeding up. The acceleration doesn't seem to 62 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:02,919 be coming from solar pressure. 63 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 1: And that's the standard explanation, right, Yeah, that's what should 64 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:05,520 be happening. 65 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 2: It's the textbook driver for cometary accelerations, what we expect 66 00:03:08,719 --> 00:03:10,000 to see every single time. 67 00:03:10,039 --> 00:03:12,599 Speaker 1: Okay, hold on, let's really break that down for anyone 68 00:03:12,599 --> 00:03:16,199 listening who might not be deep into commetary mechanics. Why 69 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:20,039 should solar pressure be the cause? What's the normal process here? 70 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:22,479 Speaker 2: It's a great question because it sets the baseline for 71 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,240 just how weird this is. So when a typical commet, 72 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,840 say from our own orc cloud, gets closer to the sun, 73 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,039 the heat from the Sun starts to vaporize its surface, 74 00:03:33,479 --> 00:03:37,840 the ice, water, ice, frozen carbon dioxide. It turns directly 75 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:40,680 into a gas. Its process called sublimation. We call it 76 00:03:40,719 --> 00:03:41,400 out gassing. 77 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: So the Sun is basically a giant blow towards hitting 78 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:44,199 a snowball. 79 00:03:44,319 --> 00:03:47,319 Speaker 2: That's a perfect analogy. And this stream of gas and 80 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:49,199 all the dust that gets kicked up with it, it 81 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:53,039 shoots out into space. And well Newton's third law, for 82 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,360 every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. 83 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: So the gas shooting out one way pushes the comet 84 00:03:58,000 --> 00:03:58,520 the other way. 85 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 2: Exactly, It's like thousands of tiny random rocket thrusters firing 86 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,800 off the surface. It's a very small push, a non 87 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:10,479 gravitational force, but it's continuous, and it's enough to slightly 88 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,560 alter the comets path to accelerate just a little bit 89 00:04:13,599 --> 00:04:16,040 more than gravity alone. Would we account for this in 90 00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:17,720 all our models? It's completely normal? 91 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:22,519 Speaker 1: Okay. So if that's the normal expected mechanism, the push 92 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,399 from its own outgassing. Ye, and that's been ruled out 93 00:04:25,399 --> 00:04:28,920 for three I atlas, what are scientists left with. 94 00:04:29,079 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 2: You're left with a profound problem. You're left with unexplained energy. 95 00:04:33,079 --> 00:04:37,000 I mean, gravitational mechanics are incredibly precise. We can predict 96 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:39,639 the path of a planet centuries from now. If an 97 00:04:39,639 --> 00:04:42,759 object deviates from that gravitational path, it means some other 98 00:04:42,879 --> 00:04:44,199 force is acting on it. 99 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:46,639 Speaker 1: And you've just ruled out the most common natural one. 100 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:48,519 Speaker 2: Right when you rule out the one force you can 101 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:50,839 quantify and expect, you have to start looking for a 102 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:54,199 cause that is well much more profound. It's the difference 103 00:04:54,199 --> 00:04:57,040 between watching a thrown rock follow a perfect arc and 104 00:04:57,079 --> 00:04:59,399 watching that rock suddenly speed up and take a hard 105 00:04:59,439 --> 00:05:00,439 right turn mid air. 106 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:04,399 Speaker 1: And this deviation it's not a subtle thing, is it? 107 00:05:04,959 --> 00:05:08,439 The source material? Says its course is changing erratically, mysteriously. 108 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,839 It even gives the impression that something inside it is 109 00:05:11,879 --> 00:05:15,839 controlling the motion. I mean, that's a pretty dramatic statement 110 00:05:15,879 --> 00:05:16,879 for a scientific report. 111 00:05:17,079 --> 00:05:19,079 Speaker 2: Oh that's the phrase that just sends a chill down 112 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,600 your spine, Isn't it as if something inside it is 113 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,879 controlling the motion? In classical astronomy, we just don't use 114 00:05:25,959 --> 00:05:29,480 language like that. We never imply agency or self direction 115 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,759 for an inert celestial body. So when you see that 116 00:05:32,879 --> 00:05:35,560 phrase applied to a lone chunk of rock and ice, 117 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,600 it signals a complete failure of our models. It means 118 00:05:38,639 --> 00:05:42,079 our understanding of how this object should behave has broken down. 119 00:05:42,879 --> 00:05:46,279 Speaker 1: It suggests the force isn't like a smooth external push 120 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,639 from the sun, but something else, something internal maybe or. 121 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,199 Speaker 2: Variable exactly like a series of controlled pulses or burns, 122 00:05:53,199 --> 00:05:55,040 not a gentle, steady outgassing. 123 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: So its movement is a puzzle. And then there's its appearance, 124 00:05:57,600 --> 00:05:59,199 which is a whole other can of worms. Let's talk 125 00:05:59,199 --> 00:05:59,959 aout the light the glow. 126 00:06:00,399 --> 00:06:05,519 Speaker 2: Yes, the visual anomaly three I Atlas has this unexpected luminosity. 127 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:08,879 It has a green glow that is burning brighter than 128 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,439 expected especially for an object that's traveled through interstolar space 129 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,720 for you know, maybe millions of years, you'd expect it 130 00:06:15,759 --> 00:06:19,399 to have lost some of that easily vaporized surface material. 131 00:06:19,639 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: The sources use some really vivid language for this. They 132 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,079 describe the glow as cutting through telescopic feeds like an 133 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:30,319 emerald wound in the night sky. It sounds incredibly intense. 134 00:06:30,079 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 2: And that imagery really captures what the telescopes are seeing. 135 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,040 That specific green color it comes from a bit of chemistry. 136 00:06:36,439 --> 00:06:40,240 It's caused when intense solar radiation hits and excites molecules 137 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:44,399 of something called diatomic carbon C two and sometimes cyanogen. 138 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,839 They're simple carbon based molecules that are frozen on the comet. 139 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,959 Speaker 1: Okay, so if it's brighter than expected, what does that 140 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:51,680 actually imply. 141 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:54,079 Speaker 2: It points to one of two things, and both are 142 00:06:54,079 --> 00:06:56,240 a problem for the natural comet model. First, it could 143 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:58,959 mean the object just has a way higher concentration of 144 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,120 these volatile materials than we predicted, which would be odd 145 00:07:02,199 --> 00:07:05,279 for an interstellar traveler that's been battered by cosmic rays 146 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:05,920 for eons. 147 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:08,040 Speaker 1: You'd think it would have less of that stuff on 148 00:07:08,079 --> 00:07:08,759 the surface, not. 149 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 2: More exactly, or the second option, and this is maybe 150 00:07:12,839 --> 00:07:16,879 more likely. The rate of outgassing is just off the charts. 151 00:07:16,959 --> 00:07:21,480 It's shedding this material at a speed that's well, it's 152 00:07:21,519 --> 00:07:24,240 basically unprecedented for an object of its size at it's 153 00:07:24,319 --> 00:07:25,480 current distance from the Sun. 154 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,439 Speaker 1: So wait, this brings us to a huge contradiction, doesn't it. 155 00:07:28,959 --> 00:07:31,759 On the one hand, the acceleration problem implies it's moving 156 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,199 without the big gas cloor it would need to push it. 157 00:07:34,639 --> 00:07:38,120 But on the other hand, the intense brightness suggests it's 158 00:07:38,199 --> 00:07:41,079 outgassing like crazy, producing a massive cloud. 159 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:43,959 Speaker 2: You've hit it perfectly. That is the core paradox. It 160 00:07:43,959 --> 00:07:46,839 seems to require both massive mass loss to explain the 161 00:07:46,879 --> 00:07:50,600 brightness and at the same time insufficient mass loss to 162 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,279 explain its movement via the normal solar wind model. It's 163 00:07:54,279 --> 00:07:58,160 a bundle of contradictions, chemical, kinetic. It just doesn't fit 164 00:07:58,199 --> 00:08:01,279 our expectations for any natural celestial body we've ever seen. 165 00:08:01,439 --> 00:08:03,759 And that's why the scientific community went from oh, look 166 00:08:03,759 --> 00:08:07,079 a new object to all hands on deck so quickly. 167 00:08:06,959 --> 00:08:09,839 Speaker 1: Because it's breaking the fundamental rules we thought we knew. 168 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,360 Speaker 2: It's breaking the rules of inertia and sublimation that our 169 00:08:13,519 --> 00:08:16,240 entire signs of comets is built on all right, So now. 170 00:08:16,079 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: We have to escalate this. We move from the general 171 00:08:19,199 --> 00:08:24,240 problem of its weird movement to a very specific detail 172 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:29,560 that well, it makes this object truly unique. The anti tail. 173 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,639 This is where it goes from an interesting scientific puzzle 174 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:37,080 to something that feels structurally impossible. 175 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,559 Speaker 2: This is the lynchpin. This is the detail that breaks everything. 176 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:43,639 To understand it, we should quickly recap what a normal 177 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:45,519 tail looks like, k lay it out for us. A 178 00:08:45,519 --> 00:08:48,360 typical comet usually has two tails. There's the dust tail, 179 00:08:48,399 --> 00:08:50,399 which is made of heavier particles and it can curve 180 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:52,919 a bit because of the comet's momentum. But then there's 181 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:55,600 the ion tail or plasma tail. It's made of charged 182 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:58,399 gas particles and it is always blown directly away from 183 00:08:58,440 --> 00:08:59,600 the Sun by the solar wind. 184 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,600 Speaker 1: Exceptions like a windsock and a hurricane can only point 185 00:09:02,639 --> 00:09:03,000 one way. 186 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 2: A perfect analogy that direction is non negotiable. The Sun 187 00:09:06,759 --> 00:09:08,720 is the great pusher, the dominant. 188 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:10,279 Speaker 1: Force, but not for three I outlests. 189 00:09:10,639 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 2: No. The anomaly here is the anti tail, and it's 190 00:09:14,159 --> 00:09:16,480 exactly what it sounds like. It's a jet of dust 191 00:09:16,639 --> 00:09:19,759 and gas that is pointing towards the sun, not away 192 00:09:19,799 --> 00:09:20,159 from it. 193 00:09:20,279 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: Let that sink in. It's actively ejecting material against the 194 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:27,679 most powerful force in the inner solar system, against the 195 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:28,360 solar wind. 196 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:32,320 Speaker 2: Yes, against solar radiation pressure. It's pushing back. 197 00:09:32,759 --> 00:09:34,159 Speaker 1: What stands out to you about that? I mean, the 198 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,120 source material is so emphatic, it says, and I'm quoting here, 199 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:41,200 Nothing in known physics explains this, not solar wind, not rotation, 200 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,840 not gravitational drag. That's just it's a dismissal of every 201 00:09:44,879 --> 00:09:46,240 known force that should be in play. 202 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 2: It is. And if you connect this to the bigger picture, 203 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:52,679 the anti tail fundamentally challenges our understanding of how forces 204 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,480 work in space. We know how powerful the solar wind is. 205 00:09:55,519 --> 00:09:58,759 We have decades of data from satellites. So what force 206 00:09:59,039 --> 00:10:02,000 localized to this one object is powerful enough to overcome 207 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:03,919 that and push a jet of material inward. 208 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:06,799 Speaker 1: It almost sounds like a shield or a propulsion system 209 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:07,799 fighting against the current. 210 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:11,679 Speaker 2: It implies one of two things. Either the object has 211 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:15,679 its own incredibly powerful magnetic field that's deflecting the solar 212 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:20,120 wind and funneling this outgassing in a specific direction, or 213 00:10:20,399 --> 00:10:23,559 it has an expulsion mechanism, a controlled jet that is 214 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:26,399 so powerful its thrust overcomes the Sun's push. 215 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:28,879 Speaker 1: Okay, let me be the skeptic for a moment. Could 216 00:10:28,919 --> 00:10:32,279 this just be some kind of weird optical illusion, maybe 217 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,240 related to the way the object is spinning, Like if 218 00:10:35,279 --> 00:10:38,559 a chunk of material on a shadowed pull suddenly vaporizes, 219 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:41,000 Could the angle make it look like it's pointing toward 220 00:10:41,039 --> 00:10:41,399 the Sun. 221 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:44,759 Speaker 2: That's a necessary scientific question, right, and it's one researchers 222 00:10:44,799 --> 00:10:47,559 have been wrestling with. But the sources seem to explicitly 223 00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:52,519 rule out rotation. A complex spin can create weirdly shaped tails, sure, 224 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:56,159 asymmetrical tails, curved ones, but it doesn't create a jet 225 00:10:56,159 --> 00:10:58,960 of material that is physically moving against the solar wind 226 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:02,159 vector from curial. To move toward the Sun, it has 227 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,159 to have its own powerful momentum. It has to be fired. 228 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:07,120 Speaker 1: Essentially, so the amount of force needed to do that. 229 00:11:07,039 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 2: It would be astronomical. It's a profound kinematic challenge. It 230 00:11:10,159 --> 00:11:12,360 really suggests a force that we just haven't accounted for 231 00:11:12,399 --> 00:11:14,639 in our standard models of the universe. 232 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:17,879 Speaker 1: And this complete failure of our models. It leads us 233 00:11:17,919 --> 00:11:21,159 directly to the work being done by the Harvard astrophysicist 234 00:11:21,279 --> 00:11:25,559 Avilope he's been looking at these interstellar objects for years. 235 00:11:25,919 --> 00:11:28,759 Speaker 2: Yes, and his analysis is so critical here because he's 236 00:11:28,759 --> 00:11:31,799 not just saying it's weird, he's trying to quantify how 237 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:36,279 weird it is. He attributes the motion to non gravitational acceleration, 238 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,279 which again just means it deviated from a path sculpted 239 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:40,440 by gravity alone. 240 00:11:40,879 --> 00:11:42,519 Speaker 1: And he did the math on what it would take 241 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:44,279 for a natural comet to move like this. 242 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,399 Speaker 2: He did, and this is a key calculation. He determined 243 00:11:47,399 --> 00:11:50,320 that for the acceleration to be caused by normal outgassing, 244 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:53,960 the object must have lost a significant fraction of its mass. 245 00:11:54,039 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: And you put a number on it. 246 00:11:55,279 --> 00:11:58,559 Speaker 2: He did somewhere between ten and twenty percent of its mass. 247 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,879 Speaker 1: Whoa okay, stop pause in that number. Ten to twenty 248 00:12:01,879 --> 00:12:04,879 percent of its entire mass. That sounds like a truly 249 00:12:04,919 --> 00:12:08,039 colossal amount of material. Can you put that in perspective 250 00:12:08,039 --> 00:12:08,360 for us? 251 00:12:08,399 --> 00:12:12,799 Speaker 2: It's almost incomprehensibly large. Think about Halley's commet, probably the 252 00:12:12,799 --> 00:12:16,480 most famous, most active commet we know. Halle's loses about 253 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,720 one tenth of one percent of its mass per orbit, 254 00:12:19,159 --> 00:12:21,799 and an orbit takes seventy six years, so a. 255 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:24,639 Speaker 1: Tiny fraction over a very long time a tiny fraction. 256 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,159 Speaker 2: Haley's has been around for millennia. What Lup is saying 257 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,000 is that for three I atlas to be a natural commet, 258 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:33,639 it would have to shed a tenth to a fifth 259 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:37,440 of its entire body. Think of a small mountain turning 260 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:39,799 into dust and gas in the few months we've been 261 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:40,360 watching it. 262 00:12:41,159 --> 00:12:43,960 Speaker 1: That's not sublimation. That's more like a slow motion explosion. 263 00:12:44,159 --> 00:12:47,279 Speaker 2: And if that were actually happening, if a mountain's worth 264 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:50,320 of material was being vaporized, we'd see it right the 265 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:52,200 sky around it would be full of debris. 266 00:12:52,279 --> 00:12:54,840 Speaker 1: You'd have to And that's the critical point Lote makes. 267 00:12:55,039 --> 00:12:57,919 If he had lost that much mass naturally, he says, 268 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:00,360 there should be a massive cloud of gas around it, 269 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,000 something we could easily detect with our telescopes and spectroscopes. 270 00:13:04,039 --> 00:13:07,559 Speaker 2: And the implication is that cloud isn't there, or at. 271 00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:09,679 Speaker 1: Least it's nowhere near big enough to account for the 272 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:12,480 acceleration we're seeing. The books don't balance, The math just 273 00:13:12,519 --> 00:13:13,080 doesn't work. 274 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,960 Speaker 2: So we're back to the core mystery. If the mass 275 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,159 loss that should be there isn't there, what is driving 276 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,840 the acceleration. It's a violation of the conservation of momentum, 277 00:13:22,879 --> 00:13:25,960 at least as we understand it. For comments, the change 278 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,639 in its velocity demands a force. If that force is natural, 279 00:13:29,759 --> 00:13:32,759 it demands a corresponding loss of mass that we can see. 280 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:36,120 When you can't find that mass loss, while the source 281 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:39,480 of the thrust becomes deeply, profoundly mysterious. 282 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 1: And this is the moment in the conversation that just 283 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:45,960 grabs all the headlines, because this astrophysicist, after running all 284 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,440 the numbers on the natural explanations, concludes that this behavior 285 00:13:49,519 --> 00:13:52,000 is a sign of something engineered, not random. 286 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:55,440 Speaker 2: That statement is it's a monumental one, and it's coming 287 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:58,559 from a respected scientist who has basically exhausted the known 288 00:13:58,639 --> 00:14:01,879 natural explanations. It's important to understand what he's doing. He's 289 00:14:01,919 --> 00:14:04,879 not just jumping to conclusions. He's making a scientific inference 290 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:08,039 based on the failure of every other hypothesis. The data 291 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:09,840 doesn't fit a natural object. 292 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:11,799 Speaker 1: But I have to push back on that one more time. 293 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,960 Isn't saying it's engineered just a placeholder for we don't 294 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,480 know yet. Couldn't there be some exotic national mechanism we've 295 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:20,600 just never encountered before. 296 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,919 Speaker 2: Absolutely, And that is exactly what other scientists are working 297 00:14:23,919 --> 00:14:28,399 on right now. They're diving into material science, exotic chemistry. 298 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:29,399 Speaker 1: Like what what are some of the theories? 299 00:14:29,559 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 2: Well, some have proposed that maybe the object had a 300 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,919 thermal fracture, like the heat from the Sun caused a 301 00:14:36,039 --> 00:14:40,159 huge crack, releasing a massive, short lived jet of gas, 302 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,559 a sort of natural one time rocket burn. 303 00:14:43,759 --> 00:14:45,399 Speaker 1: That could explain a sudden acceleration. 304 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 2: It could, but it doesn't easily explain the erratic ongoing 305 00:14:49,519 --> 00:14:53,279 course changes or that persistent anti tail. Others are looking 306 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,120 at its composition. What if it's made of something we've 307 00:14:56,159 --> 00:14:59,519 never seen. Maybe it has dense metallic components that are 308 00:14:59,559 --> 00:15:02,320 interact with the Sun's magnetic field in a new way. 309 00:15:02,399 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: But even those ideas would leave a signature, Okay, they. 310 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:08,440 Speaker 2: Should, They'd still require some kind of observable energy source 311 00:15:08,559 --> 00:15:12,600 or mass loss. And that's Lope's core argument. Given the 312 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,000 specific data we have, the high acceleration combined with the 313 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:20,240 unobserved mass ejection, the simplest explanation that fits all the 314 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:24,240 facts is some kind of controlled efficient mechanism, something that 315 00:15:24,279 --> 00:15:27,720 can convert internal energy into directed thrust without you know, 316 00:15:27,879 --> 00:15:30,519 just spraying a mountain's worth of debris all over the. 317 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: Place, So the lack of evidence for a natural cause 318 00:15:33,039 --> 00:15:35,639 becomes in itself evidence for an artificial one. 319 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:37,960 Speaker 2: In a way, yes, it's a huge leap, but it's 320 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:40,840 a leap founded on a deep crisis in the physics. 321 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:44,480 It forces us to treat the sky as a laboratory 322 00:15:44,559 --> 00:15:48,320 where our assumptions are constantly being tested, and the clock. 323 00:15:48,159 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: Is ticking right. The window to gather the data that 324 00:15:51,159 --> 00:15:53,480 could tell us that this is new physics or something else. 325 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:56,200 It's closing fast, and that's why we're seeing this massive 326 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:57,639 global response exactly. 327 00:15:57,639 --> 00:15:59,039 Speaker 2: That's what's driving the mobilization. 328 00:15:59,279 --> 00:16:02,559 Speaker 1: So this breakdown in physics, it's so profound that it's 329 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:06,000 triggered a truly global response. We're told the telescopes all 330 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,240 over the world are now locked onto this thing. 331 00:16:08,639 --> 00:16:11,039 Speaker 2: This is a textbook case of what happens when the 332 00:16:11,039 --> 00:16:15,480 scientific community identifies a high priority target. It's a unique 333 00:16:15,759 --> 00:16:19,799 fleeting opportunity and they know it. NASA and the European 334 00:16:19,799 --> 00:16:24,080 Space Agency ESA. They haven't just been passively watching the sources, say, 335 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:28,200 they've intensified observations and moved to constant monitoring. 336 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,840 Speaker 1: What does constant monitoring actually mean in practice? Does that 337 00:16:31,879 --> 00:16:33,799 mean the hubble is just staring at it twenty four 338 00:16:33,799 --> 00:16:34,159 to seven. 339 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,279 Speaker 2: It means they're dedicating significant resources to it. They're interrupting 340 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,960 other projects, bumping other observation schedules to give dedicated time 341 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,759 on their most sensitive instruments to three I at lists 342 00:16:44,799 --> 00:16:48,080 and ESA is specifically pulling data from both ground based 343 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,440 telescopes and space assets. That's a crucial combination. 344 00:16:51,639 --> 00:16:53,279 Speaker 1: Why both what do you get from the ground that 345 00:16:53,279 --> 00:16:55,159 you can't get from space and vice versa. 346 00:16:55,279 --> 00:16:58,720 Speaker 2: Well, the big ground based observatories like the VLT and 347 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,879 Chile or the CA in Hawaii, they give you incredible 348 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:06,920 visible light images and most importantly, spectroscopy. They break down 349 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:09,240 the light to figure out the chemical composition of the 350 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,119 coma and the tail. They're hunting for those C two 351 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:15,680 and CN molecules, but they're limited by our own atmosphere. 352 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,960 It blurs the images and absorbs certain wavelengths of. 353 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: Light, and that's where the space telescopes come in. 354 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,440 Speaker 2: That's where Hubble and maybe even the James Web Space 355 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:27,519 telescope come in. They can see in ultraviolet and deep infrared. 356 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:31,680 UV is vital for spotting certain gases that are atmosphere blocks, 357 00:17:31,799 --> 00:17:35,119 and infrared can measure temperature, is their hot spot, is 358 00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:37,920 it venting heat from one specific place? These are all 359 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,880 data points that could help test that engineered hypothesis. 360 00:17:41,559 --> 00:17:44,759 Speaker 1: So this mobilization pointing the world's best instruments at an 361 00:17:44,799 --> 00:17:48,119 object two hundred and sixty nine million kilometers away, it 362 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,519 really underscorees how seriously they're taking this scientific puzzle threat. 363 00:17:51,319 --> 00:17:55,160 Speaker 2: Level aside completely, and that distance is key. Two hundred 364 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:58,319 and sixty nine million kilometers is about one point eight 365 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:01,279 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun. It's 366 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:04,440 way out past the orbit of Mars. It's safely far away, 367 00:18:04,519 --> 00:18:07,319 which allows everyone to just focus on the science without 368 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:09,079 worrying about planetary defense. 369 00:18:08,839 --> 00:18:12,400 Speaker 1: Which brings us to the United Nations. The International Asteroid 370 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:16,799 Warning Network or IAWN, is also involved. We're told they 371 00:18:16,839 --> 00:18:18,720 are very closely. 372 00:18:18,319 --> 00:18:21,480 Speaker 2: Watching, and their involvement isn't about an immediate risk. It's 373 00:18:21,519 --> 00:18:25,640 a function of protocol and uncertainty. Iawn's main job is 374 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:28,799 to track near Earth objects or NEOs and coordinate a 375 00:18:28,839 --> 00:18:31,880 response if one is on a potential impact course, but 376 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:35,920 their mandate also includes tracking any object that behaves unpredictably. 377 00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:38,759 Speaker 1: And unpredictably is definitely the word for three IAT lists. 378 00:18:38,799 --> 00:18:39,799 Speaker 2: It's the definition of it. 379 00:18:39,839 --> 00:18:41,880 Speaker 1: But the officials they're really stressing a key point for 380 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,000 the public here. They're saying IAWN is tracking it as 381 00:18:45,039 --> 00:18:48,400 a matter of protocol, not threat. What does that protocol 382 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:49,160 actually involve? 383 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,680 Speaker 2: So an object like this gets put on a watch list, 384 00:18:52,039 --> 00:18:55,160 that happens when its future path becomes difficult to reliably 385 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:59,519 predict with three i AT lists. That non gravitational force 386 00:18:59,599 --> 00:19:03,359 is so big and so erratic that our standard computer models, 387 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,640 the ones we use to project trajectories years into the future, 388 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,359 they've basically broken down. They can't predict where it's going 389 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,680 to be with any certainty. So IWN has to track 390 00:19:12,759 --> 00:19:16,319 it because its path is scientifically volatile, not because it's 391 00:19:16,319 --> 00:19:19,000 going to hit us, but because the uncertainty demands they 392 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:21,240 keep constant, validated track on it. 393 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:23,839 Speaker 1: So the high alert we're hearing about is a scientific 394 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:27,319 high alert. The urgency is about a fleeting chance to 395 00:19:27,319 --> 00:19:30,240 study something revolutionary, not an incoming threat. 396 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:34,240 Speaker 2: Precisely, Ideman's involvement just confirms that this object has crossed 397 00:19:34,279 --> 00:19:37,960 a very specific threshold of scientific interest and trajectory weirdness. 398 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:42,000 They're the global hub collecting data from NASA ESN telescopes 399 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,799 in Japan everywhere, and putting it all together to maintain 400 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,279 one single, official, consistent track of this object, which is 401 00:19:48,359 --> 00:19:51,000 essential when the object itself seems to be actively trying 402 00:19:51,039 --> 00:19:52,440 to throw off our predictions. 403 00:19:52,759 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 1: It's fascinating to see how the whole global scientific machine 404 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:57,960 just snaps into place for something. 405 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 2: Like this, and we have to remember the history. This 406 00:20:00,519 --> 00:20:04,960 is the third interstellar object we've confirmed. The scientific community 407 00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:07,640 was maybe caught a little bit flat footed with on 408 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:13,079 Aamua back in twenty seventeen. Umurama also showed non gravitational acceleration, 409 00:20:13,519 --> 00:20:16,799 but it did so without any visible tail or gas cloud, 410 00:20:16,839 --> 00:20:18,799 which is what led to the first round of these 411 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:20,200 engineered hypotheses. 412 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:21,759 Speaker 1: So this time they were ready. 413 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:25,160 Speaker 2: This time they were ready. They mobilized immediately because they 414 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:27,559 know the observation window is short, and they know that 415 00:20:27,599 --> 00:20:30,720 three I at Lias is presenting anomalies like the anti 416 00:20:30,759 --> 00:20:33,960 tail that are even more bizarre and harder to explain 417 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:35,200 than um UMA's worth. 418 00:20:35,319 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 1: Umu was was strange and subtle. Three eye Atlas is 419 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:40,599 just openly defiant. 420 00:20:40,759 --> 00:20:43,759 Speaker 2: Defiant is a great word for it, both visually and kinematically. 421 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:46,079 Speaker 1: So if the science is the engine of this story, 422 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:49,599 then the philosophical implications. That's where things get really profound. 423 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,160 This object is forcing us to confront the limits of 424 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:54,160 what we think we know. 425 00:20:54,599 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 2: That's the real intellectual talent here. The sources mentioned the 426 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,960 perspective of some researchers, including prominent voices in the Search 427 00:21:02,039 --> 00:21:06,799 for Extraterrestrial Intelligence or SETI, and they argue that objects 428 00:21:06,839 --> 00:21:09,359 like three I at lists are forcing science to keep 429 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:10,079 an open. 430 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,000 Speaker 1: Mind, which seems like a healthy thing for science, doesn't it. 431 00:21:13,079 --> 00:21:16,559 We can't just leap to its aliens, obviously, but we 432 00:21:16,599 --> 00:21:19,240 also can't just dismiss the questions when our own physics 433 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,559 can't provide an answer. We have to be open to 434 00:21:21,599 --> 00:21:23,599 the idea that there are things in the universe we 435 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:25,039 just haven't cataloged yet. 436 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,680 Speaker 2: And the source material frames this debate so well. I 437 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:29,759 think this is a key takeaway for everyone listening. It 438 00:21:29,759 --> 00:21:32,720 says the debate is not about aliens. It is about 439 00:21:32,799 --> 00:21:36,960 exploring about recognizing how little we truly know about what 440 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:38,559 drifts between the stars. 441 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:41,119 Speaker 1: I love that it shifts the whole conversation. It's not 442 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:45,160 about speculation, It's about epistemology. What do we actually know 443 00:21:45,839 --> 00:21:48,079 and how do we know? Our models of physics are 444 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:49,240 truly universal. 445 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:52,640 Speaker 2: So what does this mean for astrophysics. It means this 446 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:56,359 object is an opportunity to rewrite the textbooks. It means 447 00:21:56,519 --> 00:21:59,279 the standard model of a comet, you know, a dirty 448 00:21:59,319 --> 00:22:02,000 snowball left over from the formation of a star system, 449 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,960 might not apply to these interstellar travelers. They might have 450 00:22:06,079 --> 00:22:10,079 formed it under completely different conditions, or maybe they've been modified. 451 00:22:10,319 --> 00:22:13,680 Speaker 1: Well, if the engineered hypothesis were ever proven correct, that 452 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,599 just opens up a whole new reality. Obviously, but even 453 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,559 if it turns out to be some incredibly exotic natural object, 454 00:22:19,839 --> 00:22:21,400 that's still a massive discovery. 455 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:24,480 Speaker 2: A massive discovery if it's a comet made of materials 456 00:22:24,519 --> 00:22:26,920 we've never seen that react to the Sun in a 457 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,160 way we've never predicted, that forces a huge revision of 458 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:33,160 our models. We are literally getting a sample of the 459 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,640 chemistry from another star system billions of kilometers away. 460 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,680 Speaker 1: Every little anomalous detail is like a clue on a 461 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,720 treasure map telling us how other solar systems might work. 462 00:22:43,039 --> 00:22:46,119 Speaker 2: And the urgency is so real because this moment is 463 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,640 so fleeting, The sources describe it as a brief visitor. 464 00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:53,680 As three Atlas flashes past Earth. It will not slow 465 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,920 down it will not return. We are in a unique 466 00:22:57,039 --> 00:23:00,920 observational window that is measured in weeks and months, not years. 467 00:23:01,279 --> 00:23:03,920 Speaker 1: Whatever secrets it carries will leave with it unless we 468 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,200 learn to read them fast enough. That really captures the stakes. 469 00:23:07,599 --> 00:23:10,839 It's a scientific race against time and cosmic speed. 470 00:23:10,759 --> 00:23:13,079 Speaker 2: And the final thought from the sources is just so 471 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,000 powerful and perfect for a brief moment. The universe is 472 00:23:16,079 --> 00:23:19,279 knocked on our door and science is listening this knock. 473 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,839 It isn't a threat, it's a revelation. It's a chance 474 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:24,920 to test physics itself. If our laws fail in the 475 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,440 face of these interstellar travelers, then the rules of the 476 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,519 galaxy are far far stranger than we ever imagined. 477 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,839 Speaker 1: And all these anomalies, the weird acceleration, the erratic path 478 00:23:33,839 --> 00:23:37,079 at physically impossible anti tail, they combine to make this 479 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,160 object the single most valuable piece of interstellar data we've 480 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:40,839 ever received. 481 00:23:41,079 --> 00:23:44,799 Speaker 2: And that's why NASA, ISA and iw and are all watching. 482 00:23:45,039 --> 00:23:48,119 It's not a threat. It's a potential blueprint for something 483 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,880 we don't understand, and that race to decipher it is 484 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:54,160 happening right now. Two hundred and sixty nine million kilometers 485 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:54,440 a way. 486 00:23:54,799 --> 00:23:58,000 Speaker 1: That was an incredible look into this interstellar enigma. Let's 487 00:23:58,079 --> 00:24:01,680 just quickly recap the absolute most shocking aspects of three 488 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:04,559 i at lists that are driving this global effort. 489 00:24:04,599 --> 00:24:08,400 Speaker 2: Okay, First the motion, the kinetics. It's accelerating without a cause. 490 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,359 We can explain the standard comet tail as a rocket 491 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:15,039 model just doesn't work. It implies a non gravitational forces 492 00:24:15,039 --> 00:24:15,480 at play. 493 00:24:15,799 --> 00:24:19,240 Speaker 1: Second, the structure that anti tail, a jet of gas 494 00:24:19,279 --> 00:24:22,200 and dust pointing impossibly toward the Sun fighting against the 495 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,759 solar wind. That requires some kind of powerful localized internal 496 00:24:25,799 --> 00:24:26,880 force we can't explain. 497 00:24:27,079 --> 00:24:30,839 Speaker 2: And third the math Avi loops calculation. If this were 498 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:32,559 a normal comet, it would have had to lose ten 499 00:24:32,599 --> 00:24:34,400 to twenty percent of its mass to move like this, 500 00:24:34,519 --> 00:24:37,240 and there's no evidence of that massive cloud of debris. 501 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:40,119 That lack of evidence is what lends weight to the 502 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,480 hypothesis of something engineered. 503 00:24:42,799 --> 00:24:45,599 Speaker 1: So we have an object speeding through our system, carrying 504 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,960 secrets we can't yet decipher and challenging the very foundations 505 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:51,759 of physics we thought were universal. The window to watch 506 00:24:51,799 --> 00:24:55,680 it is closing. So my final question is this, if 507 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,160 our known physics, solar wind, gravity, rotation, all of it, 508 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,039 if it can can't explain the movement or the appearance 509 00:25:02,039 --> 00:25:05,079 of three I at Lias. What kind of scientific leap, 510 00:25:05,079 --> 00:25:07,160 what kind of paradigm shift do we need to make 511 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,440 to read the secrets of the universe before they're gone forever. 512 00:25:10,559 --> 00:25:13,519 Speaker 2: That's the ultimate question. Is the anomaly in the object itself? 513 00:25:13,599 --> 00:25:15,599 Is it made of something new? Or is the anomaly 514 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,720 in us? Are scientific models just too limited for what's 515 00:25:18,799 --> 00:25:19,599 really out there? 516 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 1: So what do you think? What's your take on a 517 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,200 celestial object that seems to defy all the known rules 518 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:26,920 of motion When you hear the data and you hear 519 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:30,119 that the natural explanations are failing, does the concept of 520 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,519 something engineered feel like a necessary scientific step or is 521 00:25:34,559 --> 00:25:36,640 the leap too far? Let us know what you think.