{"id":289572,"date":"2025-11-29T10:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/289572\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T10:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:59:07","slug":"nasas-mars-orbiters-and-rover-pulled-off-a-cosmic-surprise-by-imaging-an-interstellar-comet-not-meant-for-their-sensors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/289572\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Mars orbiters and rover pulled off a cosmic surprise by imaging an interstellar comet not meant for their sensors"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA and its Mars orbiters<\/a> and rover have managed to capture images of an interstellar comet that was not meant to be detected by their sensors.<\/p>\n

The comet was first discovered back in July, but the longest government shutdown in US history meant the agency wasn\u2019t able to comment or share pictures of it.<\/p>\n

However, the shutdown is now over, and NASA has released the latest images, captured from its Mars orbiters and rovers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a remarkable sight to behold and provides even more valuable research about space.<\/p>\n

DISCOVER OUR SUPERCAR AUCTION SITE<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 View live auctions on SBX Cars<\/p>\n

What the Mars orbiters and rover were able to capture<\/p>\n

NASA has said<\/a> that the comet is called 3I\/ATLAS, and it\u2019s been described as a \u2018weirdo.\u2019<\/p>\n

The comet passed by Mars at a distance of 19 million miles from the Red Planet.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, the robots that spotted it<\/a> weren\u2019t meant to be gazing at the stars at all.<\/p>\n

These were the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN orbiter (MAVEN), and NASA\u2019s Perseverance Rover<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NASA<\/a>NASA<\/a><\/p>\n

Perseverance looked upward and was able to catch sight of it as it passed by.<\/p>\n

MAVEN is in orbit around the planet and managed to get a decent-quality image of the comet.<\/p>\n

Then MRO was able to capture a very spooky monochrome image of the comet as it flew past.<\/p>\n

The images of the comet are spectacular<\/p>\n

The image from MRO was captured in early October as 3I\/ATLAS raced past Mars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This image showed the size of the comet and the diffuse nature of the dusty trail.<\/p>\n

Perseverance<\/a> managed to capture a grainy but spooky shot of it as it flew past 18.6 million miles away.<\/p>\n

The image captured by the MAVEN spacecraft, however, is very different.<\/p>\n

MAVEN showed a composite image of 3I\/ATLAS.<\/p>\n

\"NASA<\/a>NASA<\/a><\/p>\n

This image revealed the amount of hydrogen around it captured in stunning ultraviolet light.<\/p>\n

In the image, there is a dimmer spot on the left, which is the comet itself.<\/p>\n

Mars and its hydrogen are seen in the picture, with the dim middle spot representing the hydrogen flowing between the planets.<\/p>\n

These are some of the most fascinating images of outer space we have ever seen.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDISCOVER SBX CARS:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA and its Mars orbiters and rover have managed to capture images of an interstellar comet that was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-289572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}