Mysterious interstellar object 3I/ATLAS made an astonishingly close pass of Mars last month, allowing scientific instruments in the planet’s orbit to get a tantalizing glimpse.

Yet thanks to the US federal government shutdown that ended earlier this month, NASA was forced to delay the release of images taken by the HiRISE camera attached to its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, prompting outrage from lawmakers and astronomers alike.

Fortunately, NASA finally released some of the observations during a livestream today.

One image, taken by HiRISE on October 2, shows a “fuzzy white ball,” as NASA associate administrator Amit Kshatriya described it. At the time, 3I/ATLAS was just 19 million miles away from the instrument.

“That ball is a cloud of dust and ice called the coma, which is shed by t

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