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On November 19, ISRO released its ground-based images from Mount Abu in India, while NASA published a collection of data collected from multiple spacecraft and observatories, including close-up views from Mars’ orbit. This collaboration is an important step in the global effort to study one of only three known interstellar objects.
NASA’s multi-lens view of Mars and beyond
Earlier this fall, as 3I/ATLAS approached, NASA’s three spacecraft pointed their instruments toward Mars. When the comet was only 19 million miles (30 million km) away, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) used its HiRISE camera (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) to capture one of the closest and clearest images to date.
Ultraviolet observations taken with the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph on NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) orbiter revealed that the comet was surrounded by a halo of hydrogen gas – a clear indication of water-ice sublimation in sunlight.
Meanwhile, NASA’s Perseverance rover, located on the surface of Mars about 29.9 million km from the comet, recorded a light streak using its Mastcam-Z instrument.
NASA’s solar-observing missions—STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory), SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) and the new PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unite Corona and Heliosphere) mission—tracked 3I/ATLAS as it passed by the Sun. Using image stacking and polarimetric techniques, these missions revealed subtle and previously hidden features in the comet’s tail.
NASA’s Lucy and Psyche spacecraft also contributed to refining estimates of the comet’s coma size and orbital path. Psyche made four observations from a distance of 33 million miles over an eight-hour period on September 8–9, while Lucy captured a sequence of images from 240 million miles away on September 16.
ISRO’s ground view from Mount Abu
Scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory attached to ISRO obtained high-resolution optical images of the comet between November 12 and 15 using the 1.2-meter telescope at the Mount Abu Observatory.
(Image: nasa.gov)
These false-color images show the comet’s near-spherical coma – the bright blanket of gas and dust surrounding its nucleus. Spectroscopic data collected during the observation period also detected common chemical emissions, including CN, C₂ and C₃.
3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object identified so far, following comets Borisov (2019) and ‘Oumuamua (2017). Believed to have originated outside our solar system, it is traveling at an astonishing 130,000 miles per hour, providing a rare opportunity to study material from another star system.
Unlike typical comets, which originate in the distant Oort Cloud at the edge of our Solar System, interstellar objects come from much further away, shaped by atmospheres in completely different stellar systems.
(edited by : Vivek Dubey,