"One image, taken by HiRISE on October 2, shows a "fuzzy white ball," as NASA associate administrator Amit Kshatriya described it. At the time, 3I/ATLAS was just 19 million miles away from the instrument. "That ball is a cloud of dust and ice called the coma, which is shed by the comet," Kshatriya said. NASA also released images of the comet taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument attached to its Perseverance Mars rover, taken on October 4, showing the object whipping by at around 137,000 mph."
"Before getting to the latest observations during today's livestream, Kshatriya chose to "address the rumors right at the beginning," publicly denouncing a prevalent theory - prominently championed by Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb in the media - that 3I/ATLAS could be an alien spacecraft that came to visit. "This object is a comet," Kshatriya said. "It looks and behaves like a comet, and all evidence points towards it being a comet.""
Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS passed unusually close to Mars, allowing instruments in orbit and on the surface to image it. HiRISE on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a "fuzzy white ball" coma on October 2 when the object was about 19 million miles away. Perseverance's Mastcam-Z imaged the object on October 4 as it traveled roughly 137,000 mph. MAVEN ultraviolet spectrograph detected hydrogen emission in late September. A US federal government shutdown delayed HiRISE image release, prompting criticism. NASA officials stated the object looks and behaves like a comet, and it will approach Earth December 19 for further observations.
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