China has unveiled a new image of interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, captured from Mars. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced that the Tianwen-1 Mars Orbiter took the photo on October 3, when the object was approximately 28.96 million kilometers away. The image was captured using the orbiter’s High-Resolution Imaging Camera (HiRIC).
3I/ATLAS has left scientists puzzled as they struggle to understand its strange behavior. Near the Sun, the object changed its color, brightness, and even its speed — showing unexpected non-gravitational acceleration that caught researchers off guard. Meanwhile, skywatchers around the world are using binoculars and telescopes to catch a fleeting glimpse of the interstellar comet before it disappears forever. Fresh images taken after it reemerged from the Sun’s glare reveal it once again lacks a visible tail — an anomaly noted by Avi Loeb, who suggests that the absence of a large gas and dust cloud around 3I/ATLAS could help uncover its true nature.
