Avi Loeb: JWST methane on comet 3I/ATLAS raises life questions
Comet 3I/ATLAS, which zipped past the sun in December 2025, caught scientists' attention for its unusually high methane levels, spotted by Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb using the James Webb Space Telescope.
Since methane is considered a possible sign of life, this discovery has sparked some big questions about what's out there.
Loeb urges study of interstellar comets
Loeb thinks ATLAS might have carried dormant microbes frozen in ice, possibly spreading life to planets as it traveled, a concept called "directed panspermia."
Because ATLAS crossed paths with habitable worlds, he's urging space agencies to study these interstellar visitors more closely.
As he puts it, "intercepting and diagnosing their composition with a probe," which could reveal how life spreads across the universe.