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By USH
The weight of the gods was crushing, their toil beyond endurance. Let the burden pass to humankind! So speak the oldest verses carved into clay, a fragment from the Atrahasis tale of Mesopotamia. Yet what if these divine figures were not simply legends? What if the stories hint at something far older and stranger than we have allowed ourselves to believe? The name Anunnaki comes from the etched symbols of Sumerian records, their lines recounting the deeds of deities who shaped the world and watched over the Earth.
From the cradle of ancient Mesopotamia comes a story older than any empire, etched into clay tablets and whispered through time: the tale of the Anunnaki. Were they gods, symbols, or something far stranger visitors from beyond the stars who shaped human civilization? The myths of Sumer speak of creation, rebellion, giants, and a great flood. But when paired with the ancient astronaut theory, these legends take on a new dimension, one that could rewrite human history.
Who were the Anunnaki? In the ancient Sumerian texts of Mesopotamia, they are described as the offspring of An, the sky god, and Ki, the earth goddess. Their names appear across the Atrahasis epic, the Enuma Elish, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Sumerian King List, etched into clay tablets more than 4,000 years ago.
To mainstream historians, the Anunnaki are mythological gods. Yet in the ancient astronaut theory, they were real beings, extraterrestrial visitors who shaped early civilization.
Author Zecharia Sitchin popularized the idea that the Anunnaki came from Nibiru, a hidden “twelfth planet” on a long, elliptical orbit. According to his interpretation of Sumerian records, the Anunnaki faced an environmental crisis. Their planet’s atmosphere was failing, and the solution they sought was gold, which could be ground into particles and suspended as a shield.
This quest for survival brought them to Earth more than 400,000 years ago. They mined resources, altered life, and may even have engineered humanity itself.
The tablets describe how the lesser gods, the Igigi, were forced into back-breaking labor until they rebelled. To replace them, the Anunnaki created humans.
In myth, mankind was formed from clay mixed with divine blood. In Sitchin’s interpretation, this was genetic engineering: the fusion of Anunnaki DNA with Homo erectus. The first prototype was Adamu, a name that echoes the biblical Adam.
The Sumerian “Edin,” later mirrored in the Hebrew Eden, may not have been a paradise garden but an Anunnaki laboratory outpost.
Two Anunnaki brothers shaped humanity’s destiny: Enki – the god of wisdom and waters, often seen as humanity’s ally, granting knowledge. Enlil – stern and authoritarian, seeking control and fearing that humans might grow too powerful. Their rivalry runs through Mesopotamian myth, influencing stories of divine punishment, survival, and human struggle.
Over time, some Anunnaki defied the rules and took human women as partners. Their offspring were the Nephilim, giants and “mighty men of renown.” The Book of Enoch calls their fathers the Watchers, led by Shemyaza.
According to the stories, these hybrids grew violent, corrupted the world, and became uncontrollable. The solution was drastic: a great flood to wipe the Earth clean.
The Atrahasis epic, the story of Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the biblical Noah all describe the same event: a chosen man warned by a god, a vessel built to preserve life, animals carried aboard, and birds released to find land. Humanity survived, but weaker, with shorter lifespans, and forever changed.
Supporters of the ancient astronaut theory believe the Anunnaki left traces in stone:
Mesopotamian ziggurats – described as “bonds between heaven and earth,” possibly landing platforms.
The Great Pyramid of Giza – aligned to true north, massive in scale, theorized as a power plant or beacon rather than a tomb.
Megalithic monuments worldwide – stone circles, cyclopean walls, and sacred sites possibly linked to Anunnaki influence.
The Sumerian King List also suggests a divine legacy, describing rulers with lifespans of thousands of years, perhaps evidence of semi-divine hybrids.
Mainstream archaeology sees the Anunnaki as symbolic deities, metaphors for cosmic order and human struggle. But in alternative history, they were real beings, extraterrestrial visitors from Nibiru, who shaped civilization, taught astronomy, metallurgy, agriculture, and law, and left their mark in myths and monuments that endure to this day.
Explore the mystery of the Anunnaki—Sumerian gods, Nibiru, genetic engineering, Nephilim, the Great Flood, and the ancient astronaut theory in the video below.
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By NASA
Explore Hubble Science Hubble Space Telescope As NASA Missions Study… Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered AI and Hubble Science Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities 3D Hubble Models Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 4 min read
As NASA Missions Study Interstellar Comet, Hubble Makes Size Estimate
Hubble captured this image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 277 million miles from Earth. Hubble shows that the comet has a teardrop-shaped cocoon of dust coming off its solid, icy nucleus. Image: NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) A team of astronomers has taken the sharpest-ever picture of the unexpected interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using the crisp vision of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble is one of many missions across NASA’s fleet of space telescopes slated to observe this comet, together providing more information about its size and physical properties. While the comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA’s space telescopes help support the agency’s ongoing mission to find, track, and better understand near-Earth objects.
Hubble’s observations allow astronomers to more accurately estimate the size of the comet’s solid, icy nucleus. The upper limit on the diameter of the nucleus is 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers), though it could be as small as 1,000 feet (320 meters) across, researchers report. Though the Hubble images put tighter constraints on the size of the nucleus compared to previous ground-based estimates, the solid heart of the comet presently cannot be directly seen, even by Hubble. Observations from other NASA missions including the James Webb Space Telescope, TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, as well as NASA’s partnership with the W.M. Keck Observatory, will help further refine our knowledge about the comet, including its chemical makeup.
Hubble also captured a dust plume ejected from the Sun-warmed side of the comet, and the hint of a dust tail streaming away from the nucleus. Hubble’s data yields a dust-loss rate consistent with comets that are first detected around 300 million miles from the Sun. This behavior is much like the signature of previously seen Sun-bound comets originating within our solar system.
The big difference is that this interstellar visitor originated in some other solar system elsewhere in our Milky Way galaxy.
3I/ATLAS is traveling through our solar system at a staggering 130,000 miles (209,000 kilometers) per hour, the highest velocity ever recorded for a solar system visitor. This breathtaking sprint is evidence that the comet has been drifting through interstellar space for many billions of years. The gravitational slingshot effect from innumerable stars and nebulae the comet passed added momentum, ratcheting up its speed. The longer 3I/ATLAS was out in space, the higher its speed grew.
“No one knows where the comet came from. It’s like glimpsing a rifle bullet for a thousandth of a second. You can’t project that back with any accuracy to figure out where it started on its path,” said David Jewitt of the University of California, Los Angeles, science team leader for the Hubble observations.
The paper will be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. It is already available on Astro-ph.
New Evidence for Population of Wandering Space Relics
“This latest interstellar tourist is one of a previously undetected population of objects bursting onto the scene that will gradually emerge,” said Jewitt. “This is now possible because we have powerful sky survey capabilities that we didn’t have before. We’ve crossed a threshold.”
This comet was discovered by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on July 1, 2025, at a distance of 420 million miles from the Sun. ATLAS is an asteroid impact early warning system developed by the University of Hawai’i.
In the meantime, other NASA missions will provide new insight into this third interstellar interloper, helping refine our understanding of these objects for the benefit of all. 3I/ATLAS should remain visible to ground-based telescopes through September, after which it will pass too close to the Sun to observe, and is expected to reappear on the other side of the Sun by early December.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for more than three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
To learn more about Hubble, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/hubble
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Comet 3I/ATLAS
Hubble captured this image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 277 million miles from Earth. Hubble shows that the comet has a teardrop-shaped cocoon of dust coming off its solid, icy nucleus.
Comet 3I/ATLAS Compass Image
This image of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera on July 21, 2025. The scale bar is labeled in arcseconds, which is a measure of angular distance on the sky. One arcsecond is equal an angular measurement of 1/3600 of o…
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Last Updated Aug 07, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Contact Media Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland
Related Terms
Hubble Space Telescope Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Comets Goddard Space Flight Center Small Bodies of the Solar System The Solar System
Related Links and Documents
Science Paper: Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Interstellar Interloper 3I/ATLAS, PDF (1.57 MB)
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Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
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By European Space Agency
Image: A team of astronomers has taken the sharpest-ever picture of the unexpected interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, using the crisp vision of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
ESA's Planetary Defence Office responded promptly to the discovery of the comet, and has been tracking it since the beginning of July.
Now, Hubble's observations from space are allowing astronomers to more accurately estimate the size of the comet’s solid icy nucleus. The upper limit on the diameter of the nucleus is 5.6 km, but it could be as small as 320 m across, researchers report.
Though the Hubble images put tighter constraints on the nucleus size compared to previous ground-based estimates, the solid heart of the comet presently cannot be directly seen, even by Hubble. Further observations, including by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, will help refine our knowledge about the comet, including its chemical makeup.
Hubble also captured a dust plume ejected from the Sun-warmed side of the comet, and the hint of a dust tail streaming away from the nucleus. Hubble’s data show that the comet is losing dust in a similar manner to that from previously seen Sun-bound comets originating within our Solar System.
The big difference is that this interstellar visitor originated in some other stellar systems, elsewhere in our Milky Way galaxy.
3I/ATLAS is traveling through our Solar System at roughly 210 000 km per hour, the highest speed ever recorded for a Solar System visitor. This breathtaking sprint is evidence that the comet has been drifting through interstellar space for many billions of years. The gravitational slingshot effect from innumerable stars and nebulae the comet passed added momentum, ratcheting up its speed. The longer 3I/ATLAS was out in space, the higher its speed grew.
This comet was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on 1 July 2025 at a distance of 675 million km from the Sun. 3I/ATLAS should remain visible to ground-based telescopes until September, after which it will pass too close to the Sun to observe. It is expected to reappear on the other side of the Sun by early December.
Icy wanderers such as 3I/ATLAS offer a rare, tangible connection to the broader galaxy. To actually visit one would connect humankind with the Universe on a far greater scale. To this end, ESA is preparing the Comet Interceptor mission. The spacecraft will be launched in 2029 into a parking orbit, lying in wait for a suitable target – a pristine comet from the distant Oort Cloud that surrounds our Solar System, or, unlikely but highly appealing, an interstellar object.
While it is improbable that we will discover an interstellar object that is reachable for Comet Interceptor, as a first demonstration of a rapid response mission that waits in space for its target, it will be a pathfinder for possible future missions to intercept these mysterious visitors.
The research paper based on Hubble observations will be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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By NASA
NASA/Carla Thomas NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft completed its first low-speed taxi test at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on July 10, 2025. This marked the first time the one-of-a-kind experimental aircraft has ever moved under its own power.
During the test, engineers and flight crews monitored the X-59 as it moved across the runway, working to validate critical systems like steering and braking. The taxiing represents the start of the X-59’s final series of ground tests before first flight.
The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to demonstrate quiet supersonic flight by reducing the loud sonic boom to a quieter “thump.”
Image Credit: NASA/Carla Thomas
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