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This is the 3I/ATLAS photo that NASA was accused of hijacking. Of course it doesn’t change anything

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They are the most controversial astronomical photos of the last two months. And to no one’s surprise, speculation as to why NASA had not published them was exaggerated. This is what the space agency has seen. A little context. Since the ATLAS system detected a new interstellar object crossing our neighborhood, a very specific part of the scientific community has been carefully monitoring its trajectory to detect any anomalies. Especially since cosmologist Avi Loeb suggested it could be an artificial alien object. That NASA took a month and a half to release 3I/ATLAS images taken during its approach to Mars has not helped control such speculation. But the administrative silence, caused by the US government shutdown, has come to an end. NASA is back this week with a huge amount of data under the arm. “It’s a comet.” NASA has mobilized 12 of its spacecraft to observe the visitor from outside the solar system. And the official message is forceful, almost designed to nip any exotic speculation in the bud: “it looks like a comet and behaves like a comet, and all the evidence points to it being a comet,” said Amit Kshatriya, the agency’s highest-ranking official, in a press conference. Of course, it is a different comet from those in the solar system, which suggests that it was born in an environment with a different chemistry than ours, perhaps around a star much older than the Sun, because it is unusually rich in nickel and, instead of expelling water, it expels carbon dioxide. What’s new. What makes this new observation campaign special is the geometry. When 3I/ATLAS passed its closest point to the Sun in late October, Earth was on the “wrong side,” with the Sun blocking our direct view. Taking advantage of the fact that Mars had a privileged view, NASA forced the instruments of its ships beyond their original design. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured high-resolution images from 30 million kilometers away. The MAVEN mission analyzed its ultraviolet composition and the Perseverance rover, from the Martian surface, managed to capture a faint flash of the comet. Meanwhile, the Psyche and Lucy spacecraft, traveling to distant asteroids, managed to capture the comet against the light, revealing details of its tail and coma that would be invisible from Earth. And the SOHO and STEREO solar observatories followed suit when it was too close to the Sun for other telescopes. What does Loeb say? The controversial Harvard astrophysicist and techno-signature hunter has published an immediate response showing his disappointment. For Loeb, the NASA press conference has been an exercise in bureaucracy to confirm the “expected and boring.” His main arguments for maintaining skepticism are: The striking thing about the mass: 3I/ATLAS is a million times more massive than ‘Oumuamua. Statistically, we should have seen millions of small objects before seeing one this big, unless it was intentionally “sent”, according to the cosmologist. The camouflage theory: Loeb argues that an interstellar probe that has traveled through the cold interstellar medium could have accumulated a layer of ice and dust on its surface. As it approaches the Sun, this layer would sublimate, making it look like a natural comet. The resolution of the images: The photos shown by NASA are blurry (due to the limitations of the probes), so Loeb is pinning his hopes on images taken by amateur astronomers as the comet approaches Earth. And now what. NASA has not found any technosignatures: no radio signals, no impossible maneuvers outside of gravity, nothing that indicates intelligence on this comet. However, the show is not over. On December 19, 2025, 3I/ATLAS will have its closest approach to Earth (about 270 million kilometers). It will be then when the James Webb space telescope and the large terrestrial observatories will be able to perform the definitive autopsy. Image | POT In Xataka | 3I/ATLAS shows signs of non-gravitational acceleration: something has pushed it, and we think we know what

The only photo you need to understand the scale of what Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ company, has just done

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In the absence of bananas, there is nothing like having five human operators in the photo to understand the scale of the New Glenn rocket, whose first stage is 57 meters high and seven meters in diameter. landed successfully on a barge in the Atlantic. SpaceX has company. So far, the club of companies capable of landing their orbital-class rockets so they can be reused had only one partner: SpaceX. For a decade now, Elon Musk’s company has single-handedly dominated the reuse game, landing and taking off again up to 500 times with the Falcon 9 thanks to a reliability that is now more than routine. What you see in this photo is the breaking of that monopoly. The first successful landing of the enormous New Glenn rocket, achieved on only its second flight, demonstrates that orbital reuse is no longer a matter of a single company. Although Blue Origin, founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, is far behind SpaceX, it has just taken a giant leap that Bezos summarized with a Latin expression: Gradatim Ferociter (“step by step, fiercely”). As large as graceful. Unlike the Falcon 9, which measures 70 meters and can put about 22 tons of cargo into low orbit, the New Glenn stands out with 98 meters in height and a planned capacity of 45 tons. If we had not seen SpaceX catch the Super Heavy (the first stage of Starship) three times with the arms of the launch tower, it would seem more unlikely to us that a rocket like the New Glenn would be able to land gracefully in the center of a barge in the Atlantic Ocean. And without getting covered in soot. There is another fundamental detail in the photo: the rocket fuselage is clean. Unlike the Falcon 9 boosters, which return covered in the characteristic black soot caused by kerosene combustion, the New Glenn appears almost pristine. The reason is that its seven powerful BE-4 engines use methane and liquid oxygen (a combination of cryogenic propellants known as methalox). This fuel is not only more efficient and cheaper, but it burns much cleaner, facilitating inspection and reconditioning tasks for the next flight. With this landing, the New Glenn has become the first methalox rocket to successfully recover a first stage from an orbital flight, ahead of the Zhuque 3 from the Chinese company Landspace (and with permission from Starship, which also uses methalox, but has never reached orbit). Things are coming. Blue Origin’s sweet moment begins now. In an interview with Ars Technicathe company’s CEO, Dave Limp, has confirmed that the aggressive 2026 goal is to complete between 12 and 24 missions. The company has announced a launch price of about $70 million, a figure almost identical to what SpaceX charges for a Falcon 9. But the New Glenn not only competes with the Falcon 9, but also threatens to burst the market by competing directly in the league of the Falcon Heavy, but with the advantage of a unique and fully reusable first stage. As for the rocket that has landed, its next payload will not be a probe or a satellite, but the Blue Moon Mark 1 lunar module, which the company plans to launch in the first quarter of 2026 to demonstrate to NASA They are ready for the moon race. Image | Jeff BezosBlue Origin In Xataka | Blue Origin now has a golden opportunity to overtake SpaceX on trips to the Moon. And he is taking advantage of it

This is how the “impossible” photo of the man falling into the Sun was made

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It seems like a montage, but it is so real that it has gone around the world just when AI was making surreal images stop impressing us. Andrew McCarthy’s “The Fall of Icarus” has shown that there are still ways to outdo the machine with technical precision and months of planning. Logistical madness. In the photo, a backlit silhouette appears to have launched itself in free fall over the Sun. It is the skydiver Gabriel C. Brown transiting in front of a particularly active solar disk. On the other side of the telescope, the famous astrophotographer Andrew McCarthywhich had begun planning the capture at the beginning of the year. It is, quite possibly, the first photo of this type, since the list of variables to control was insane. They needed the optimal sun angle, a safe height for Brown to launch from, and a perfectly calculated glide path between the sun and the camera. Three-way communication. It was 9 in the morning in the Arizona desert. McCarthy had his telescopes ready and was in constant communication with both Gabriel Brown, the skydiver, and Jim Hamberlin, the pilot of the paramotor from which he would launch. McCarthy followed the aircraft with his telescope and, once it was aligned with the Sun, gave the order. “Okay, I’ll see you,” he said over the radio. “Jump, jump, jump!” Brown jumped at about 1,070 meters above sea level with the engine idling to ensure a perfect angle. “I got it, man!” he heard him say on the radio. The sixth time was the charm. McCarthy told Live Science that the biggest challenge had been finding the paramotor in the sky. Although it was about 2.4 km from its position, the point of the shot was to capture in detail the Sun, which was 50 million times the same distance. It took the team six attempts to correctly align the aircraft with the photographer’s position on the ground. When push came to shove, they could only make one jump, as folding the parachute for a second attempt would have taken too long. Is it really not a setup? It is not, and the secret is in the telescope. As explained PetaPixelcarried a hydrogen-alpha filter to block all sunlight except for a very specific red wavelength that emits incandescent hydrogen. This is how those infernal images of the solar chromosphere are taken: the layer of active “fire” on the surface of the Sun, with its filaments and protuberances especially visible during times of greater solar activity. It is not very different from how other photos of rockets and space stations passing in front of the Sun are taken, but with extra planning and audacity so that the protagonist of the image is, for the first time, a tiny person. Images | Andrew McCarthy In Xataka | We are used to seeing the Perseids looking up. This is what they look like from space, looking down

How to see any photo with the 3D space effect of iOS 26 on your iPhone using the new function of the APP photos

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Let’s explain How to use the app Photos From your iPhone to see with 3D effect The photos you want. It is one of the functions of iOS 26 with which you can use this effect with your photos On the lock screenbut the APP photos also allows you to use it with anyone at any time. Here, you just have to know that this function is pure amusement, to see the effect and that’s it, you can’t use it for much more. But in the end, it can also help you to see how you are with any photograph you have before using it then as a wallpaper. Use the spatial effect with any photo The first thing you have to do is Open the application Photos On your iPhone. Remember that you should have updated iOS 26, and the condition is that the photo where you want to apply the effect must have some type of protagonist, such as a person, pet or object. Choose a photo and enter it. Once you are inside the photo, you have to click on the hexagon icon that will appear above right. To see it you must have the interface, that is, if you only see the photo click on the screen so that the other elements come out. When you press that button, you will see that for a few seconds some purple colors appear on the screen while the AI ​​analyzes the content of the photo. Then you will see that The indicator of Space sceneand that when you move the mobile screen you can see the 3D effect of the photo. In Xataka Basics | How to obtain information from what appears on your iPhone screen with Apple Intelligence and iOS 26

It was practically impossible for a satellite to “ruin” the photo of another satellite. With Starlink already go twice

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Until recently, the idea that a terrestrial observation satellite accidentally captured another satellite in the flight was as an unlikely coincidence as finding a needle in a haystack. Space is an immense emptiness and The satellites move very quickly. But in the last year we have witnessed this phenomenon twice. And on both occasions, the protagonist has been a Spacex Starlink satellite. In a secret military base in China. On August 21, one of the new Satellites WorldView Legion of Maxar It passed over the Gobi desert, in China, with the aim of photographing the Dingxin Air Base: a high secret installation where China proves its most advanced fighters. The satellite achieved the image, but an unexpected intruder appears in it. A silver ship with two large solar panels and three spectra of colors cross Maxar’s photo, creating what an executive of the company described on LinkedIn as “accidental art.” What we see is actually a single satellite, the Starlink 33828immortalized in different wavelengths on one of the most sensitive places of the Chinese army. The trick is in the camera. The curious multicolored image is explained by how observation satellites and the incredible speed at orbit move. These satellites do not take a single image, but a series of images in different spectral bands almost simultaneously: a high resolution (panchromatic) and several in different colors (red, green, blue …) of lower quality. Then, an algorithm merges all this information to create the final photo, already clearly color. The problem of that “almost simultaneously” is almost. When the objective is the earth, which is relatively still with respect to the satellite, the system works perfectly. But when another satellite crosses in the field of vision at a relative speed of almost 1,400 meters per second (about 5,000 km/h), the camera captures it in a slightly different position in each of the color layers. The result is that spectral effect with several colored shadows. The Google Maps Starlink. This is the second time that a Starlink satellite accidentally sneaks into an alien photo. As We count in April 2025a Reddit user discovered a very similar effect on a Google Maps image on a rural Texas area. On that occasion, the photo was taken by a Pleaiades European satellite, and the result was even clearer: five silhouettes of the same object, corresponding to the close, red, blue, green and pancromatic infrared bands. The enormous amount of satellites in low orbit is turning an astronomically unlikely event into a new normality. Why are Starlink satellites. Because they are a majority. Spacex already has More than 8,300 Starlink in orbitmore than all other satellite constellations together. With its plans to expand the network to more than 30,000, the probability that one of them is crossed in the viewfinder of another satellite is growing. But also, they fly low. To offer a low latency internet connection, the Starlink operate about 500 km altitude in the low terrestrial orbit. This is the same orbital “highway” that most use the earth’s observation satellites, such as the Worldview Legion of Maxar (which are 518 km). His paths are destined to cross. Beyond the visual anecdote, these images are the symptom that the low orbit is increasingly congested, which forces perform constant evasion maneuvers To prevent collisions. Image | Maxar In Xataka | What types of satellites exist: guide not to get lost in a gigantic network of which we are increasingly dependent

How to convert any person or thing of a photo into a hologram with Gemini and Nano Banana

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Let’s tell you how convert any object or person of a photo into a hologram. For this we will use Geminithat integrates the free nano model. This allows you to do many things with Gemini’s image editor, such as Create ultra -realistic action dolls From a photo a photo and Many more things. As always, do a task like this with artificial intelligence It does not depend only on the model, but also on Prompt You use, the command with which you ask for it. Therefore, we are going to tell you which one to use and the things you should take into account to perfect it. Turn anything in a photo into a hologram The first thing you have to do is upload a photo to the Gemini writing field, either on the web or on the mobile. Then simply Write the prompt that we tell you belowand click to send everything so that AI does its magic. This is the prompt: “Convert (describe the object or the person to know what you mean) that appears in the image in a 3D hologram of transparent lines.” Here, the most important thing is make the AI ​​understand what object, person or animal you mean When you ask him to make him a hologram. When it is a photo where a distinguishable object appears, like a mobile, then you just have to say the mobile. If two similar things appear, such as two cats or two people, then you will have to give extra indications as you would like a person, such as telling him that he is the person on the right or the cat in the background with dark color. This is already. Only with these indications and leaving the rest of the prompt as Gemini will edit the photo to specifically modify what you have asked. It will not always go well to the firstthat is, you are not afraid to redo the action until it is to your liking. In fact, sometimes the result will be a representation of what is not always corresponding to what it was. For example, if you change a person for a hologram, a silhouette that is not always recognizable will appear. In other words, he sees trying again or tries to add to keep the factions. In Xataka Basics | Gemini Image Editor: 16 forms and tricks to squeeze Nano-Banana with Google’s artificial intelligence

Retocate a photo without inventing it. Google has succeeded and has won 10 million users

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Recently Gemini was news for the integration of a new image editor, called Nano Banana. Its great virtue is that it has achieved something that seemed impossible: finally an AI is able to make touch -ups in a photo without changing it completely. The launch has gone well to Google, who has announced that thanks to Nano Banana they have added no less than 10 million users to Gemini. The numbers. We have known it thanks to Central Androidwho echoed the last publication of Josh Woodward in X. The Vice President of Google announced that since the launch of Nano Banana on August 26, more than 200 million images have already been published and the Gemini app has won 10 million users. Woodward jokes that TPUs are burning (it refers to ‘Tensioning Processing Unit’, used in neuronal networks). The milestone The generation of images was at a very high level in which distinguish what is AI and what is not It is almost impossible. However, he was unable to make a small modification in an image without inventing things. And let’s not talk about asking him to put a text. The striking of Nano Banana is that you can add, change or remove something from a photo without changing anything else. For example we can ask to change our clothes or add a person in a photo. Viral. Artificial intelligence is already mainstream; practically everyone knows what a chatbot is and many people use it for all kinds of consultations (even As if it were his psychologist). If there is something that has contributed to the AI ​​reaches the general public, it has undoubtedly been the generation of images and the most viral case we have it with the Ghibli style photos. Although not with such an impact, during the days that Nano Banana has been available, several have been viralized Prompts like the one Turn any person or pet into an action figurine. It trembles, Photoshop. As we said, the image edition was a point that escaped the AI, but Nano Banana is able to remember and apply small modifications. At the moment Nano Banana does not reach the requirements for professional use, but if it continues to evolve it can be A great threat to image editing softwares like Photoshop. In Xataka | Cancel the adobe subscription has been hell for years. USA just denounced him

How to use Gemini to convert a photo into an ultra realistic action doll with Nanobanana

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Let’s explain How to turn a photo In a Bandai -style action figure, with its box and everything. You will be able to do this with the Gemini image editorand it will be an almost exact reproduction of the character that appears in the photo, whether a person, an animated character or even your pet. Gemini has a powerful photo editor for artificial intelligencewith which you can do many things. And although it focuses above all on being an alternative to Photoshop, you can also do creative things like this, and all this even with the free version. In this image, a box will also be accompanied with the character, and in the background you will see a computer. Turn your photo into a realistic figure To be able to create this type of image, you first need a photo that you have taken from the character from whom you want to create the image. Gemini will use that image as a reference, causing the doll to have the same posture and expression. It’s like making a photo dollthat is, you will have to choose well what you want. Then, you just have to upload the photo and write the following Prompt: Create a 1/7 scale marketed figure of the photo character, in a realistic style and environment. Place the figure on the table of a computer, using a transparent acrylic circular base without any text. On the computer screen, it shows the ZBrush modeling process of the figure, which must also have the same features in the photo. Next to the computer screen, place a bandal -style toy packaging printed with the original illustration, and with colors similar to those of the character. In the box you must put as name “(name)”. In very few seconds Gemini will create the image for you. The only thing you should worry about in this prompt is Change the name of the boxto add the one you want. You can also change what you want, such as the background computer or the box next to its colors. You can also do the same with drawings That you have dropped from the Internet, using the characters of your favorite anime or comics. The only limit is that Gemini does not allow doing so with photos of real people downloaded from the Internet. In Xataka Basics | Gemini Image Editor: 16 forms and tricks to squeeze Nano-Banana with Google’s artificial intelligence

the problems of referring to the AI ​​as simple as recognizing a photo of Francoism

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An image of a humble Spanish family in the 50s has recently become the epicenter of a viral controversy in X. The photograph It ended up unleashing the hysteria of many users, a hysteria caused by blind trust towards the responses of artificial intelligence, in this case that of Grok. Another example of verifying historical information with AI has its things. What happened. It all started when the @kritikafull user public A black and white photograph of a family in poverty conditions, accompanied by the following phrase in an ironic tone: “We lived better.” The image generated thousands of visualizations, but also aroused the interest of many users who doubted that photography was taken in Spain and ended up resorting to Grok, as usually happens lately on the social network, to verify the information. The origin of the controversy. Image: Arenas Photographic Study A problematic answer. Grok I identified erroneously Photography as an image taken during the great American depression, attributing it to photographer Walker Evans and stating that he showed the Burroughs family. This answer He replied massively In dozens of publications that accumulated thousands of visualizations, making the error an apparent truth that served to discredit the original publication. A research work. The user @ropamuig37, who describes herself in her profile as a historian, decided to verify the facts by one Inverse image search on Google Lens. The result took it directly to the photographic file of the University of Malaga, where the image appears perfectly classified as “Housing, August 1952, Malaga, Spain”. Photography is part of a series of reports that includes Spanish housing of the time. If AI says no, I believe it. When the historian gave Grok the real documentation, artificial intelligence He was inflexible For hours, insisting that it was an “UMA error” and maintaining that it had “verified” the similarity with the American photo. Even after the historian gave him obvious visual direct and comparative links, Grok took almost two hours to recognize his mistake. The damage was already done, since the publications that took the verification of Grok ended up flooding the social network with thousands of visualizations. Meanwhile, the real verification of the historian (and other users such as @Remusokamias it reminds us in their thread) barely accumulated at the beginning a fraction of what the rest of the publications that viralized Grok’s wrong response achieved. A major problem. On the platform The use of Grok has been normalized To perform all kinds of checks before user publications. “Grok, explain this” or “Grok, is this right?”, They are increasingly common expressions in X, where millions of users have begun to delegate to the verification and understanding tasks that traditionally required to contrast diverse sources. And of course, at least today, blind trust in these tools can generate Large -scale misinformation. We have already lived it over the last years after the AI ​​boom, a consequence that, given the growing refinement of these tools, goes to adults. In polarized contexts when any information can be instrumentalized politically, AI can also become a dangerous tool. Especially for its ability to Generate quick and verify responses to contrast certain facts. Luckily, this case has not been serious, but reflects the massive adoption of AI tools and how much we begin to trust them. Cover image | Arenas photographic study and Walker Evans In Xataka | Microsoft opted everything to OpenAi to win the AI ​​race. Start realizing your mistake

How to turn your photo into a funko doll using chatgpt

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Let’s tell you How to turn your photo into a funkowith the characteristic aspect of these figures. Beyond Convert your studio style photo Ghibliof turn your photo into an action dollor from Many other ideasis another of the things you can do with the photographic edition of Chatgpt. You can do this by uploading a photograph of you or any other person, and then describing what you want to do and that you want to turn it into a funko. When you do, Chatgpt will recognize the most significant features of your faceand create a funko with them. Turn your photo into Funko The first thing you have to do is Load the photo you want in the chat of chatgpt. For that, click on the Load files With the sign of the +, and Choose the photo you want of your gallery or a folder of your device. If what you want is to create a normal funko, draw yourself as a figure, it is enough with a very simple prompt. Of course, it is advisable to see most of your body to capture clothes, although you can Ask him to change thingsas remove the mobile if it is a selfie or change the background. The prompt that I have used is as follows: I reimagine this photo as a Funko Pop figure, but without the mobile. Change the background to put it in a record store. If you want your funko to come out in a boxthen you can also do it. Simply, in the prompt you have to add that it is inside its box, and you can also add the name you want to put, and even some special stickers or edition that you want to add. The prompt that I have used is as follows: I reimagine this photo as a Funko figure inside its box. That the name in the box is “Yúbal Fernández”, and has a “Xataka Special Edition” sticker. You should also take into account a couple of things. First of all, If the result does not convince you click on the remake button That will appear below. This will make you not have to rewrite the prompt, simply Chatgpt will try again. In addition, you can change everything you want describing it with flat text in the prompt. In Xataka Basics | 14 Functions, tricks and ideas to squeeze the analysis of chatgpt images

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