China’s Mars orbiter Tianwen-1 snaps image of interstellar visitor 3I/Atlas

China’s Mars orbiter Tianwen-1 has captured a rare snapshot of a mysterious interstellar visitor that has ignited debate among scientists about its origins.

The object – designated 3I/Atlas – is only the third ever detected entering our solar system, and new images, released on Thursday by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), offer a closer look at the presumed comet.

Tianwen-1 snapped the pictures from about 30 million km (18.6 million miles) away on October 3.

The object, which was first spotted on July 1 by the Nasa-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, has perplexed scientists over whether it is of natural origins or an alien spacecraft.

Nasa determined it to be interstellar – from outside our solar system – based on its hyperbolic orbit, which does not follow a closed path around the sun.

Tianwen-1 captured the images using its high-resolution camera, making it one of the closest observations of the interstellar object.