NASA confirms mysterious 3I/ATLAS object is an interstellar comet
ISTANBUL
NASA on Wednesday released new images of 3I/ATLAS, confirming that the interstellar object is a comet — not an alien craft — after weeks of speculation that grew during the recent US government shutdown.
Speaking during a livestreamed briefing in Greenbelt, Maryland, NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said the agency “very much wants to find signs of life in the universe,” but emphasized that the object shows every characteristic of a natural comet.
“This object is a comet. It looks and behaves like a comet. And all evidence points to it being a comet,” he said.
NASA officials said the temporary shutdown had delayed the agency’s ability to respond to early online claims about the object, which passed Mars last month.
Since then, scientists have used more than a dozen space- and ground-based instruments — including the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, orbiters around Mars, and two European Space Agency satellites — to study it in detail.
Closest approach in mid-December
“We were quick to be able to say, ‘Yes, it definitely behaves like a comet,’” said Nicola Fox, head of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “We certainly haven’t seen any technosignatures or anything from it that would lead us to believe it was anything other than a comet.”
Fox added: “It was great that the world wondered along with us.”
First detected in July by a Chilean telescope, 3I/ATLAS is believed to predate the solar system. NASA scientist Tom Statler previously described it as “a window into the deep past — so deep that it predates the formation of our Earth and sun.”
The comet is now moving back out of the solar system. Its closest approach to Earth — 167 million miles (269 million kilometers) — is expected in mid-December, when sky-watchers may be able to spot it before dawn using binoculars or a telescope.
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