CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The group leading the charge in the search for extraterrestrial life has given the all clear: An interstellar comet looks to be completely natural and free of any alien tech.The SETI Institute said Wednesday that extensive radio scans by its telescope in Northern California found no signs of otherworldly technology from our solar system’s latest interstellar visitor. The object labeled 3I/Atlas was discovered last summer sweeping through our neck of the cosmic woods. Scientists quickly identified it as a comet that migrated from another star, although a few insisted without evidence it might be associated with intelligent life. It’s only the third known object from a faraway star — all deemed of natural origin — to venture into the sun’s turf. Several NASA spacecraft observed the celestial iceball as it swung past Mars last October, venturing within 19 million miles (30 million kilometers) of the red planet. The closest it ever got to Earth was in December at a whopping 167 million miles (269 million kilometers) away.
SETI said it conducted more than seven hours of observations in July soon after the comet was discovered, searching through a wide range of radio signals. The team identified nearly 74 million narrow-band radio signals.
