https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15329565/UN-planetary-defenses-target-3I-ATLAS-new-images.html

The United Nations has officially confirmed that Earth's planetary defenses will be taking aim at the mysterious interstellar object 3I/ATLAS in just hours.

Starting on November 27, a global team of scientists will kick off a two-month campaign to track the supposed comet as it nears our planet.

3I/ATLAS, which will reach its closest point to Earth on December 19, is not projected to pose any threat, but the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) is treating the event as a massive drill in case future asteroids are projected to collide with Earth.

The announcement comes as stunning new images of the visitor have been released, revealing everything the surprisingly blurry images recently provided by NASA did not.

Harvard professor Avi Loeb shared new amateur telescope images of the interstellar object, captured between November 22 and November 24.

These striking photos revealed a glowing, fuzzy 'head' called a coma, along with a narrow tail stretching over 600,000 miles and strangely pointing toward the sun in stead of away from it like a typical comet.

One even appeared to reveal the shape of 3I/ATLAS, showing a cone-like object covered in a bright haze.

The images came from everyday skywatchers using small backyard telescopes around the world, including in Japan, Spain, and Chile, and shockingly provided a more detailed look at the mysterious object than NASA's Mars orbiter.

The space agency, which has maintained that 3I/ATLAS is a comet from a distant solar system, was heavily criticized for their November 19 press conference, which was expected to provide the closest look at the object from only 19million miles away.

However, the image from the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shown was a fuzzy, black-and-white picture that did not have any definition.

In fact, the clearest and most detailed image presented by NASA did not actually show the interstellar object. Instead, it showed a color image of the chemical elements being released into space by 3I/ATLAS.

The underwhelming images set off a wave of criticism and conspiracy theories on social media, with some alleging the US government was deliberately being vague and showing blurred images to prevent the public from seeing an alien spacecraft.

Meanwhile, Loeb noted that a clear shot of the object on November 22, which showed its bright green body and long 'anti-tail,' was taken by Mitsunori Tsumura using a common 20-inch backyard used by stargazers worldwide.

Another caught a sharp image of the interstellar visitor over Spain that same night using a 12.4-inch telescope, a very popular size used by hobbyists in their backyards.

Perhaps the sharpest picture Loeb revealed came from Paul Craggs of Canada, who was able to capture a clear image of the alleged comet's current shape while traveling over North America on November 21.

'It's amazing how amateur astronomers are producing clearer images than the Never A Straight Answer [NASA] agency,' one critic posted on X.

Loeb has continued to champion the theory that 3I/ATLAS could be an extraterrestrial craft which is traveling on a specific course through our solar system.

The physicist and head of the Galileo Project, a scientific research group looking for signs of extraterrestrial life, has pointed out at least 12 anomalies the object has displayed since its discovery in July which scientists have been unable to explain.

These include the cometary tail pointing in the wrong direction, the object turning blue near the sun, and a collection of course changes that defy the laws of gravity.

While IAWN, which the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs operates, will be tracking the object until January as if it were a potential threat, the UN has also declared 3I/ATLAS to be nothing more than a comet.

'Comet 3I/ATLAS presents a great opportunity for the IAWN community to perform an observing exercise due to its prolonged observability from Earth and high interest to the scientific community,' IAWN wrote in a statement.

Telescopes and tracking systems around the world will focus on 3I/ATLAS to refine methods for pinpointing its exact location in the sky.

Despite the assurances from both NASA and the UN that the object is a comet and activating Earth's planetary defenses is part of a normal drill, some skeptics online doubted the story.

'When every telescope from Mauna Kea to Chile is being synced on one object, that's not a drill,' one X user posted.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5803230&forum_id=2/en-en/#49465147)