With the federal government shutdown over, NASA leadership was finally able to provide an update to the public about an interstellar object that was caught passing through the solar system in July.
A press conference was livestreamed on Nov. 19, and it began with Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya confirming that the object known as 3I/Atlas was an interstellar comet and nothing else.
“I think it’s important that we talk about [the fact] that this object is a comet,” he said. “It looks and behaves like a comet, and has and all evidence points to it being a comet. But this one came from outside the solar system, which makes it fascinating, exciting, and scientifically very important.”…