>>40852224 (OP)Here's a guess:
>Proxima Centauri Closest star to earth and has an earth like planet in the habitable zone: Proxima b.
If 3i Atlas is a ship disguised as a comet then it would have had to leave Centauri around 1955.
Proxima b would have been able to observe us up to 1950 before leaving. We did send some broadcasts out before then which could have reached them.
The earth's atmosphere would already have shown many signs of our civilization and would have been detectable by Centaurians for a long time.
The acceleration required to reach us is within the reach of theoretical fusion drives.
I'm also assuming the real ship is much smaller and is creating a fake outgassing to appear like a comet.
So, maybe there's a civilization on Proxima b who watched Hitler's speeches and the Lone Ranger and decided to come ask for signatures.
Note that this is literally the situation from the 3-body sci-fi book series, since the Trisolarans are from the Centauri system.
A real astronomer could chime in about the trajectory though, I have no idea if it really lines up. Fuck doing that math lmao