The James Webb Space Telescope has detected strange, rhythmic lights pulsing from within interstellar object 3I/ATLAS — a discovery that has left NASA scientists stunned and scrambling for answers, as the mysterious glow challenges everything we know about how celestial bodies behave beyond our solar system.

A discovery from deep space has left the scientific community both thrilled and unnerved.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected a series of mysterious, rhythmic lights flickering from within the interstellar object known as 3I/ATLAS — a cosmic visitor that has already baffled astronomers since its detection earlier this year.

According to NASA sources, the strange phenomenon was first recorded during a recent JWST observation session focused on studying the object’s unusual light curve and composition.

What scientists expected to see was a faint, inert rock reflecting sunlight.

What they saw instead were pulses of light emanating from inside the object — not reflections, not solar flares, but distinct bursts of energy that seemed to follow no predictable pattern.

Dr.Elaine Porter, an astrophysicist with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, described the moment her team first saw the data.

“It looked like a heartbeat,” she said during a press briefing.

“At first, we thought it was a data error, perhaps interference from the telescope’s instruments.

But when we ran the scan again — the pattern was still there.

Something inside 3I/ATLAS is generating light.”

3I/ATLAS was first detected in early 2025 as it entered the solar system on a hyperbolic trajectory, confirming it originated from outside our star’s gravitational influence.

It became only the third known interstellar object ever recorded after ‘Oumuamua in 2017 and comet 2I/Borisov in 2019.

But unlike those two, 3I/ATLAS has behaved in ways that challenge every existing model of cometary motion.

Astronomers have noted that the object’s velocity, spin, and trajectory subtly shift in ways that cannot be fully explained by solar radiation pressure or outgassing — the typical drivers of comet behavior.

“This thing is alive, in a sense,” said Dr.Miguel Sanchez, a researcher with the European Southern Observatory.

“It doesn’t move like a rock.

It reacts, it fluctuates, and now, apparently, it glows from within.”

The flickering lights, detected across multiple wavelengths including infrared and near-visible bands, have drawn comparisons to thermal emissions — except that their intensity and timing appear artificial or at least anomalously structured.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has confirmed that the energy signatures do not match any known chemical or geological process observed in other celestial bodies.

When asked if the phenomenon could be a reflection of sunlight or instrument error, NASA officials were cautious but firm.

“All data so far has been independently verified across different observatories,” said Dr.Porter.

“We’re ruling out interference.

Whatever is happening, it’s happening inside 3I/ATLAS.”

Some researchers have proposed that the lights could result from a form of cryovolcanic activity — the explosive release of subsurface gases triggered by solar heating.

Others are less convinced.

A growing number of scientists suggest that the object might contain exotic compounds or materials capable of storing and releasing energy in ways we have not yet observed.

Still, whispers of a more sensational explanation have already spread online, with some speculating about artificial origins — a notion reminiscent of the debates that surrounded ‘Oumuamua’s unexplained acceleration years ago.

NASA, however, has dismissed such claims as “premature and unfounded.”

“Right now, our focus is on data,” said Dr.Sanchez.

“We need to understand what kind of physical mechanism could be producing these pulses.

If this turns out to be a new type of interstellar chemistry, it could completely rewrite what we know about planetary formation in other star systems.”

JWST is scheduled to continue observing 3I/ATLAS throughout November and December as it approaches its closest pass to Earth — approximately 268 million kilometers away, about 1.8 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.

NASA hopes to capture more detailed imagery and spectral data that could help identify the source of the internal light emissions.

For now, the object remains a mystery — a flickering enigma from another world.

As one mission engineer reportedly remarked after viewing the latest transmission: “It’s like something is trying to wake up out there.”

Whether these lights are the result of alien chemistry, interstellar geology, or something beyond current human understanding, one thing is certain — 3I/ATLAS has just turned from a passing curiosity into one of the most intriguing cosmic puzzles of our time.

And somewhere in the dark silence of space, it continues to pulse.