United Press InternationalNASA releases images of interstellar comet, not an alien spaceshipStephen Feller
Thu, November 20, 2025 at 2:07 PM EST
4 min read
NASA released images of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, the third interstellar comet that NASA, ESA and other global agencies have tracked. Photo by NASANov. 20 (UPI) -- NASA released images of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS flying past Mars and, based on the agency's observations, scientists expressed doubt that it is an alien spaceship.
Space agencies globally have shifted satellites, telescopes and myriad other sensors and tools to monitor the comet, which has beguiled space scientists and the public alike with every move it has made on its trip through the solar system.
Over the last 4 1/2 months, in addition to watching the comet rocket around the sun on its journey, there has been speculation that the comet could be technological based on observations that deviate from what comets are expected to do.
"NASA is in the midst of an unprecedented solar system-wide observation campaign, turning its spacecraft and space telescopes to follow comet 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system," the agency said in a news release.
3I/ATLAS was first spotted July 1 by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile. NASA scientists later pulled data from other telescope archives dating to June 14.
NASA's telescopes have been tracking the comet continuously since its first sighting, but the agency's images and data collected between mid-September and October had not been released because of the 43-day federal government shutdown, which ended Nov. 12.
The closest view of 3I/ATLAS that NASA has had so far was when the comet passed Mars roughly from roughly 19 million miles away.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbitor and Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN above the Red Planet and Perseverance rover on its surface all photographed images of the interstellar traveler.
Additionally, NASA and the European Space Agency's heliophysics missions near the sun were able to track the comet as it passed behind the sun from Oct. 15 to 26, and NASA's Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere mission gathered data on the comet's tail between Sept. 20 and Oct. 3.
"I would like to address the rumors right at the beginning -- I think it's important that we talk about that," NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said during a media conference broadcast by the agency.
"This object is a comet. It looks and behaves like a comet, and all evidence points to it being a comet. But this one came from outside the solar system, which makes it fascinating, exciting and scientifically very important," she said.
Avi Loeb, the Baird Professor of Science and Institute director at Harvard University, has argued since the comet was spotted that, based on the space rock's trajectory and the gases it has expelled since entering our solar system, among other things, it could be technological rather than natural -- as in, alien.
In a post on Medium, Loeb criticized NASA for delivering "no big news" and repeating the "official mantra that 3I/ATLAS is a natural comet, and that the agency was unable to process the data until recently because of the government shutdown."
Loeb has contended that, based on images from other agencies and amateur photographers, jets coming off the apparent comet and differences with the first two interstellar objects scientists have spotted in our solar system, 1I/'Oumuamua in 2018 and 2I/Borisov in 2019, indicate that it possibly is not just a big rock flying through space.
Loeb noted in the post that he recently suggested to NASA that it check whether there is evidence of new objects that either accompanied the comet or may have broken off from it headed toward Mars or Earth.
"Related data from Mars rovers or orbiters or from Earth-based NASA satellites or Galileo Project observatories could reveal fragments from an iceberg that broke up or mini-probes released by a technological mothership," he wrote.
During the media conference, however, Kshatriya disagreed, based on the data that she said she has been studying.
"It's gonna look different because it didn't come from our solar system, and that's what makes it so magical," she said.
3I/ATLAS's closest approach to Earth will be Dec. 19, when it will be roughly 170 million miles away, about twice the distance between the Earth and the sun.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/nasa-releases-images-interstellar-comet-190706950.html
Random quote
