NASA has revealed detailed images of the rare interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS

NASA has published close-ups of the rare interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which is making its only rapid transit through the solar system.

Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered this summer using a telescope in Chile. It's only the third confirmed object to come to us from another star system. Last month, it flew past Mars without any danger.

Three NASA instruments orbiting and working near the surface of the Red Planet were able to take pictures of the comet at the minimum distance for them - about 18 million miles (29 million kilometres). The resulting images show a blurry white cloud with a brighter, semicircular nucleus. The European Space Agency's two orbiting stations around Mars have also made observations.

Now 3I/ATLAS is about 190 million miles (307 million kilometres) from Earth and is visible in the pre-dawn sky through binoculars or a small telescope. It will come closest to our planet in mid-December - at a distance of about 167 million miles (269 million kilometres) - before drifting back into interstellar space and never returning.

Other space observatories continue to follow the comet. In the coming weeks, observations will perform, in particular, the James Webb Space Telescope and other NASA vehicles. Cameras and instruments directed to 3I/ATLAS and European station Juice, flying to Jupiter. However, the data from her scientists will receive only in February: the main antenna is now used as a heat shield near the Sun, which limits the transmission of information.

Estimates show that the diameter of the comet could be from about 440 metres to 5.6 kilometres. According to NASA scientist Tom Statler, observations indicate that this fast object probably comes from a star system older than our own.

"Realising this gives me goosebumps," he admitted. - 3I/ATLAS is a window not only into another planetary system, but also into the distant past before the formation of the Earth and the Sun."

Amid the excitement online, NASA had to separately refute rumours that the comet could allegedly be an alien craft. Agency officials said that due to the recent federal agency shutdown, they had no way to respond quickly to all such theories.

"We are constantly looking for signs of life beyond Earth, but 3I/ATLAS is a comet," NASA deputy chief Amit Kshatirya emphasised.