NASA has gone dark just hours before humans get the closest look at the mysterious object barreling through our solar system.
The interstellar object dubbed 3I/ATLAS will come within 18 million miles of Mars on October 3, its closest flyby of any planet this year.
Two space probes orbiting the Red Planet, Mars Express and ExoMars, are preparing to take Earth’s best picture and closest scans of the strange visitor, which scientists have widely concluded is an unusual comet from a distant solar system.
However, when those readings come in, America’s space agency may remain completely silent about what the object really is.
NASA has announced that its official website will not be updated during the government shutdown, which has resulted in thousands of federal employees being sent home without pay.
It’s unclear whether NASA staff will make any announcements regarding the object’s close pass by Mars, similar to the history-making press conference that revealed the discovery of microbial life on Mars in September.
The shutdown couldn’t have come at a worse time, as scientists say Friday’s flyby could answer many questions about the mysterious comet, including whether it’s actually an object of extraterrestrial origin.
Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has maintained that 3I/ATLAS has too many confounding characteristics to be a simple comet streaking through the solar system.
NASA’s website has announced that no new updates will take place during the government shutdown when start on October 1
3I/ATLAS will come within 18 million miles of Mars on Friday, and two space probes have already started observing it
‘Hopefully, we will learn much more about 3I/ATLAS in the coming days,’ Loeb told the Daily Mail on Thursday.
The professor added that both Mars Express and ExoMars started their observations of the object on October 1 and will continue studying it until Tuesday, October 7.
Loeb noted that he’s interested in several of the findings the space probes should be able to compile while in such close range to 3I/ATLAS, adding that the readings could determine once and for all whether it’s a comet or an artificial structure.
‘The image and composition would be the top two findings of interest,’ Loeb revealed.
Since its discovery by an amateur astronomer this summer, the prevailing theory has been that 3I/ATLAS is a comet with a chemical composition that is unlike anything created within our solar system.
In September, scientists from Michigan State University announced that 3I/ATLAS was spewing gas or dust into space long before it started approaching our sun, something highly unusual for a distant comet.
Their study in the Astrophysical Journal Letters concluded that this meant it was filled with a unique collection of molecules, including carbon monoxide, an odorless gas often produced by burning wood or fossil fuels.
However, Loeb and his researchers have found even more clues that point to the interstellar object being something else, including its incredibly unusual course through the solar system and its potentially massive size.
The interstellar object will make close passes by three separate planets, something Harvard Professor Avi Loeb has declared as highly unusual and possibly a sign of alien influence
A new study found 3I/ATLAS was emitting gases into space long before it got close enough to our sun to melt normal gas and dust seen coming from other comets
Based on earlier scans and photos of the alleged comet, Loeb calculated that 3I/ATLAS may be over three miles long.
However, NASA has noted that it could be as small as 1,444 feet in length, which is still considered a ‘city-killer’ if it were to strike Earth.
‘The new data during the Mars encounter will certainly help in clarifying some of the anomalies of 3I/ATLAS, like its anomalous size and composition, but it will not explain its rare alignment with the ecliptic plane of the planets and rare timing in arriving close to Mars, Venus, and Jupiter,’ Loeb explained.
NASA and the European Space Agency have said that Friday’s historic meeting over Mars should also clear up questions about the suspected comet’s trajectory through space and its physical properties.
High-resolution images and spectral data will provide more information about the object’s nucleus, tail, and coma – the bright, fuzzy cloud of gas and dust forming around it.
However, some scientists have already dismissed alternative theories about 3I/ATLAS.
Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and astrophysicist working at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said: ‘It is clearly a natural comet; suggestions to the contrary are laughed at by people who are actual comet experts.’
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