NASA has lastly launched its long-awaited photos of 3I/ATLAS and for a lot of, the outcomes have been a serious disappointment. The house company as soon as once more repeated its narrative that the thing is a “regular” comet, all whereas presenting extraordinarily low-grade, fuzzy photos that raised extra questions than solutions.
The latest photographs of the interstellar customer, taken by a wide range of spacecraft, satellites, and telescopes, have been unveiled on November 19, 2025, throughout a NASA press convention, the primary because the U.S. authorities shutdown. NASA highlighted that eight completely different observatories contributed to the dataset.
Among the many most anticipated photos have been these from the HiRISE digital camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, (see picture above) which had a uncommon vantage level solely 19 million miles from 3I/ATLAS. But the ultimate product proven to the general public was a blurry black-and-white smudge devoid of significant element. NASA insisted the thing is just a big house rock and pushed again on claims that 3I/ATLAS is performing any maneuvers or exhibiting any conduct inconsistent with a typical comet.
On-line, NASA’s “huge reveal” was mocked as a joke. Many argued the company was withholding clearer photos and downplaying the thing’s anomalies. Pictures now circulating from beginner astronomers, taken with $5,000 to $10,000 telescopes, seem far sharper and extra informative than something proven by NASA, regardless of the company’s billions-of-dollars price of kit, spacecraft, workers, and infrastructure.
As geophysicist Stefan Burns famous in a comparability evaluate, the company’s greatest picture of 3I/ATLAS seems to be like a avenue lamp on a foggy day.
Ultimately, NASA’s long-delayed reveal of 3I/ATLAS left many observers unimpressed and, actually, what else did we count on? The low-resolution photos solely gasoline the rising sense that one thing about this interstellar customer isn’t being absolutely defined or absolutely proven. In different phrases, it looks like NASA is as soon as once more preserving the thing’s true nature out of view.
Anyway, we don’t want NASA for solutions. By the point 3I/ATLAS makes its closest strategy to Earth on December 19, 2025, there can be much more dependable sources prepared to substantiate whether or not it’s only a weird interstellar comet or one thing of extraterrestrial origin on a real renaissance mission.
.webp){kind=small}
.webp){kind=small}
