“People were expecting something big,” one viewer wrote after the event. “Instead, the update felt basic. Almost dismissive.”
Relevant Information:
- HiRISE Program: https://www.uahirise.org
- HiRISE Image of Exocomet 3I/ATLAS: https://www.uahirise.org/ESP_089922_9081
- 3I/ATLAS Approaches Earth: Object 3IATLAS Is Approaching Earth (Today In The Space World)
- NASA explains why the new HiRISE image of interstellar comet 3I/Atlas looks fuzzy while amateur astronomers capture clearer views
NASA Says Why the 31/ATLAS Images Look Blurry
NASA showcased images from HiRISE, MAVEN, STEREO, SOHO, Psyche, and Lucy, yet all appeared low-resolution. NASA later clarified on social media that the spacecraft observing the comet was not designed to track fast-moving, faint interstellar objects at enormous distances.
The HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — built by Ball Aerospace and operated by the University of Arizona — is the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet. Its purpose is to photograph Mars’s surface, not distant, rapidly moving comets.
