ChronNASA under pressure to release latest images of 'alien' cometAriana Garcia
Tue, November 4, 2025 at 7:47 PM EST
5 min read
Artist's impression of 'Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object detected passing through our solar system in 2017. Scientists are now eager to analyze images of 3I/ATLAS, only the third such visitor ever observed. (Getty Images)
NASA is under growing pressure to release long-awaited images of the rare interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS, only the third known object of its kind to enter our solar system. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) photographed the comet during its close flyby of Mars in early October 2025, marking one of the first times a spacecraft has directly imaged an interstellar visitor.
The images, captured around Oct. 2-3, remain unreleased. Their delay is attributed to the federal government shutdown that began on Oct. 1, which furloughed NASA personnel and paused data processing, review, and public communication. While most observers view this as an administrative holdup, speculation online has fueled conspiracy theories suggesting NASA may be withholding images due to potential evidence of extraterrestrial activity-claims scientists have dismissed.
Comet 3I/ATLAS was first detected on July 1, 2025 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). As it approached the Sun, it displayed a subtle non-gravitational acceleration, appearing to maneuver slightly outward from its orbit-a behavior reminiscent of other known interstellar visitors.
Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Could similar objects be the seeds of new planets around young stars? (NASA/ESA/David Jewitt (UCLA). Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI))
Telescopes, including Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope, have observed the comet, but scientists are still awaiting the high-resolution MRO and Perseverance rover data collected during its pass near Mars on Oct. 6.
Pressure on NASA intensified after Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) sent a letter to Acting Administrator Sean Duffy on Oct. 31, urging the agency to release the data. "This information is of great importance to advancing our understanding of interstellar visitors and their interaction with our solar system," Luna wrote. She noted that the HiRISE camera aboard MRO obtained images with a spatial resolution of about 19 miles per pixel, roughly three times sharper than the best Hubble images taken on July 21. "The brightest pixel in these images will provide our most precise constraint on the object's size to date."
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Aug. 6, with its Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument. (NASA/James Webb Space Telescope)
Luna also asked NASA to disclose any supplementary data from Mars missions "that may have detected unusual activity near Mars" when the comet came within about 18.6 million miles of the planet. Her request extends to information from the Parker Solar Probe, Juno, and other observatories, as well as data on previously recorded "candidate interstellar meteors." She cited a 2014 interstellar meteor near Papua New Guinea with conflicting entries in NASA's Center for Near Earth Objects database, saying clarification "would assist ongoing research and ensure transparency for the scientific community."
.@SeanDuffyWI can you please see letter below. We would like to see images of 3IATLAS. pic.twitter.com/dBL9An9YjP
- Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) November 3, 2025
Outside government circles, Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has also called on NASA to release the MRO images, arguing that open access would help astronomers plan follow-up observations. "We should not hold science hostage to the shutdown politics of the day," Loeb wrote in a recent blog post. He has previously speculated that 3I/ATLAS may not be a natural object due to its numerous anomalies-an argument he reiterated in a podcast interview with Joe Rogan.
Amid the online buzz, Kim Kardashian joined the conversation on X, posting, "Wait...what's the tea on 3I ATLAS?" Duffy quickly replied: "NASA's observations show that this is the third interstellar comet to pass through our solar system. No aliens. No threat to life here on Earth." Loeb later joked in his blog that he would gladly welcome Kardashian to join his research team.
This image shows the observation of comet 3I/ATLAS when it was discovered on July 1, 2025. (ATLAS/University of Hawaii/NASA)Comet 3I/ATLAS reached its closest point to the Sun on Oct. 30, at a distance of about 130 million miles, and will make its nearest approach to Earth on Dec. 19, 2025, at roughly 170 million miles, posing no threat of impact.
Loeb has catalogued several anomalies distinguishing 3I/ATLAS from ordinary comets: its trajectory aligns within about five degrees of the ecliptic plane, it exhibited an unusual sunward jet, and its composition is rich in nickel but low in water. He also notes that the comet's path aligns within about nine degrees of the 1977 "Wow!" radio signal and that its nucleus is extraordinarily massive compared to those of previous interstellar visitors.
As 3I/ATLAS continues its journey through the solar system, scientists and the public await NASA's release of the MRO images-data that could provide new insight into one of the strangest and most intriguing objects ever observed.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/nasa-under-pressure-release-latest-004752947.html
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