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Breakthrough Listen Observations of 3I/ATLAS with the Green Bank Telescope at 1-12 GHz

Ben Jacobson-Bell, Steve Croft, Ellie White, Andrew P. V. Siemion, Matthew Lebofsky, David H. E. MacMahon

Abstract

3I/ATLAS, an interstellar object, made its closest approach to Earth on 2025 December 19. On 2025 December 18, the Breakthrough Listen program conducted a technosignature search toward 3I/ATLAS using the 100 m Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope at 1-12 GHz. We report a nondetection of candidate signals down to the 100 mW level.

Breakthrough Listen Observations of 3I/ATLAS with the Green Bank Telescope at 1-12 GHz

Abstract

3I/ATLAS, an interstellar object, made its closest approach to Earth on 2025 December 19. On 2025 December 18, the Breakthrough Listen program conducted a technosignature search toward 3I/ATLAS using the 100 m Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope at 1-12 GHz. We report a nondetection of candidate signals down to the 100 mW level.
Paper Structure (3 sections, 2 equations, 1 figure)

This paper contains 3 sections, 2 equations, 1 figure.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Observations
  3. Results

Figures (1)

  • Figure 1: Distribution of hits (circles) and events (stars) over frequency and drift rate. The marker size gives the S/N. The gray-shaded regions show ranges not sampled, including narrow notch filter regions in the $L$ and $S$ bands. The color-shaded regions give the range of drift rates expected from Earth's orbital motion and rotational motion and 3I/ATLAS's rotation at each of the four observing bands. These regions do not perfectly align between bands due to 3I/ATLAS's radial acceleration changing during overhead time between observations. No events lie in the expected drift rate regions.