NASA has released images of comet 3I/ATLAS passing by Mars, captured by a fleet of its spacecraft. The comet, which originated from beyond our solar system and is now leaving it, generated interest and speculation, partly due to the images being withheld during a recent 43-day government shutdown.
NASA officials held a press conference to address rumors and confirm that the object is indeed a comet. The images were taken by multiple NASA missions, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lucy mission, as well as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, while the comet was between 231-235 million miles from Earth and in close proximity to Mars.
These spacecraft acted like cameras at a "baseball game," each capturing different perspectives of the comet as it passed the red planet. NASA officials emphasized that the comet appears and behaves like a typical comet, despite its interstellar origins.
