A Harvard scientist who has repeatedly claimed that an interstellar object moving through our solar system could be a 'potentially hostile alien threat' has spoken out after NASA released new images.
3I/ATLAS is an interstellar object, meaning it came from outside our solar system, and is currently making its way through our part of space.
Earlier this year, it passed by Mars, and pretty much the closest images we're going to get of it were taken, though the pictures have taken a while to be released as NASA said the US government shutdown had put things on hold for a while.
Now the images have been released Harvard scientist Avi Loeb has given his response.
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He previously told LADbible that he thought NASA were 'pretending to be the adults in the room' as he suggested that 3I/ATLAS was doing things no other comet had done, which left the door open as to what it could be.
What has NASA said about 3I/ATLAS?
NASA have been very clear about what they think the interstellar object is - which is a comet.
In a statement, they said: "It looks like a comet. It does comet things. It very, very strongly resembles, in just about every way, the comets that we know.
"It has some interesting properties that are a little bit different from our solar system comets, but it behaves like a comet. And so the evidence is overwhelmingly pointing to this object being a natural body. It’s a comet."
Earlier this week, they released images of the object taken as it travelled past Mars, where they reiterated this stance, telling people it was 'a comet' and that is 'it poses no threat to Earth'.
Why does Avi Loeb disagree?
The Harvard scientist has penned a new blog post in the aftermath of NASA's press conference on 3I/ATLAS, accusing NASA of 'repeating the official mantra', saying he would be analysing the data from the new image to get the most information.
Loeb insisted we 'should not judge a book by its cover' as he wrote that even if the interstellar object was shedding gas and dust as comets do that doesn't answer everything.
"A spacecraft that collected dust and CO2, CO & H2O ices on its surface by travelling through the cold interstellar medium could have also developed an outer layer of dust mixed with ices that sublimate when illuminated by sunlight," he wrote.
The scientist quoted Sherlock Holmes and said there was 'nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact', hitting out at the 'arrogance of expertise' and saying there was still more to learn about 3I/ATLAS.
Loeb said that further observation may #reveal fragments from an iceberg that broke up' or if it really is aliens as he's been suggesting then we might see 'mini-probes released by a technological mothership'.
When does he think we'll know more?
When he spoke to LADbible he highlighted the festive period as the time to look out for.
He had said: "My hope is that by Christmas, there would be a lot of data about it, and that would clarify its nature, given that as a as a comet, it should have lost a 10th of its mass during the passage near the sun."
19 December is the date when the interstellar object comes closest to Earth, some 170 million miles away, and in his latest update he has once again said if there's more to know then we'll know it by Christmas.
Loeb wrote: "In the coming weeks, larger ground-based telescopes as well as the Hubble and Webb telescopes will be able to characterize the jets of 3I/ATLAS by measuring their composition, speed and mass loading rate.
"These details will inform us without a doubt whether the jets are produced by natural pockets of ice that are warmed by sunlight or by technological thrusters.
"We should know the answer by the time 3I/ATLAS is closest to Earth on 19 December, 2025, a gift of new interstellar knowledge for the holidays."
Until Christmas, then. Unless you think NASA have done enough to prove it's a comet.
Joe Harker