Space & Astronomy

NASA publishes new photographs of interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS

By T.K. Randall
November 20, 2025 ·  235 comments

Image: Artist's impression of the interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua
Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, ESO, M. Kornmesser / CC BY 4.0 (adapted) At a press conference yesterday, NASA revealed new data and images concerning 3I/ATLAS - an object from a distant solar system that has been careening through our own cosmic neighborhood, culminating in a closest approach in early December.

While most scientists remain adamant that the object is a mere comet, others - such as Harvard's Prof Avi Loeb - have raised the possibility that it could be an intelligently controlled extraterrestrial vehicle.

Several anomalies have been pointed out in recent months, resulting in a great deal of debate over its true nature and whether or not it really is a comet as is generally believed.

During the press conference, NASA furthered the notion that 3I/ATLAS is a mere comet by detailing its behavior and by showing some new pictures, including one captured from Mars by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (see image above).

"It's natural to wonder what it is," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "We love that the world wondered along with us.""We were quick to be able to say: Yup, it definitely behaves like a comet."

"We certainly haven't seen any technosignatures or anything from it that would lead us to believe it was anything other than a comet."

Prof Avi Loeb, however, is not convinced.

In a recent blog posting, he argues that NASA should have discussed all of the things that are unusual about 3I/ATLAS instead of insisting that it is a normal comet.

Given that the object is continuing to get closer to us, we should soon be able to capture more detailed, high-resolution images, thus helping to solve its mysteries once and for all.

Whether everyone will be satisfied with those findings, however, remains to be seen.


Source: NASA.gov | Comments (235)

Tags: Interstellar