The New Interstellar Object 3I/Atlas Is Smaller or Rarer Than It Looks

avi-loeb.medium.com

4 points·TheBlight··4 comments

Watch the source - Avi Loeb has a poor reputation among solar system astronomers _and_ scientists who work on SETI and exobiology, due to poorly supported claims of alien (meaning intelligent) origin for many different things, including 'Oumuamua, the first interstellar object found.

We'll get more data on this object as it comes deeper into the solar system. There's a lot of speculation going around, so don't over-index on any one person (but especially not this one). Odds are good it's "just" a very interesting comet.

He has a fairly large h-index for someone with an alleged "poor reputation."

"Avi Loeb's H-index, which measures a researcher's scientific output and impact, is 132. This indicates the high level of influence and recognition Loeb has garnered within the scientific community based on the number of his publications that have been cited a certain number of times."

- Google Gemini

h-index is a measure of citations, not reputation. It is easily gamed.

One can get cited a lot for stirring up crap or making wild and wrong claims.

This is interesting. If it is indeed much smaller than initially estimated then it's unusually bright/reflective. On the other hand, if it is actually very large then it suggests its track through the solar system may not be random.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com