3I/ATLAS spotted by 12 NASA spacecraft: What Mars, asteroid and solar missions saw
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "3I/ATLAS spotted by 12 NASA spacecraft: What Mars, asteroid and solar missions saw")
3I/ATLAS captured by MRO (L), and by the SOHO mission (R). Photograph: (NASA)
3I/ATLAS and NASA: The American space agency released all the images of the interstellar comet that several of its spacecraft captured. This includes NASA's Mars missions, solar missions and two asteroid missions.
NASA released images of 3I/ATLAS on November 19, captured by not only Mars missions, but also other spacecraft that are currently journeying through space to reach their destinations. However, the best observations were to come from Mars since three of its objects observed the interstellar comet during its flyby on October 2 and 3. First and the most awaited images came from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was best positioned to see the comet, and so captured one of the closest pictures. The image shows a blurry and fuzzy object in black and white, captured by the HiRISE camera aboard the orbiter. It was only about 30 million kilometres from 3I/ATLAS at the time.
NASA asserted 3I/ATLAS is just a comet
NASA officials also stressed the fact that the object is simply a comet and nothing else. The agency's associate administrator Amit Kshatriya declared, “3I/ATLAS is a comet.” Harvard scientist Avi Loeb has time and again claimed that 3I/ATLAS could be more than just a comet, citing the various ways in which it is acting differently than a regular comet. However, NASA has dismissed all such claims, stating that the reason for this is simply the nature of the comet as it is coming from another star system. Nicky Fox, the associate administrator for NASA's science mission directorate, said, "We certainly haven't seen any technosignatures [technological traces of intelligent life] or anything from it that would lead us to believe it was anything other than a comet."
Also Read: 3I/ATLAS hiding pristine material, but is no longer a relic of its past — Study examines NASA data
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All NASA missions that spotted 3I/ATLAS
NASA said that 12 NASA assets captured and processed imagery of the comet since it was first discovered on July 1, and several others will have opportunities to capture more images as it continues to travel through the solar system. Besides the MRO, the MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) orbiter and the Perseverance rover caught a "faint glimpse" of the comet. NASA’s STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) captured images from September 11 to October 2, and the ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA mission SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) observed the comet from October 15 to 26. NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, launched earlier this year, saw the comet’s tail between September 20 and October 3.
Two asteroid missions - the Psyche and Lucy spacecraft - also saw the comet and took pictures which will help reveal more about the comet, NASA said. While the Psyche mission is travelling to the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche, Lucy will explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.
