NASA has released fresh images of the interstellar object called 3I/ATLAS that astronomers have determined is a comet probably even older than the solar system, as US space agency officials dismissed speculation that it's an alien spacecraft.

3I/ATLAS was first spotted in July by an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, telescope located in Rio Hurtado, Chile, and has been tracked by astronomers since then. Its unusual trajectory indicated that it was passing through our solar system from parts unknown.

"It's natural to wonder what it is. We love that the world wondered along with us," Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, told a news briefing, referring to the comet as "our friendly solar system visitor."

"We were quick to be able

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