Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is losing an insane amount of mass after making its closest pass of the sun last month — a phenomenon known as perihelion — prompting Harvard scientist Avi Loeb to speculate that the object might have fragmented into over a dozen pieces.

NASA has released close-up images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS after being delayed during the government shutdown. NBC News' Gadi Schwartz talks to Harvard Professor Avi Loeb on what he took away from the images.

The controversial scientist has once again spoken out about his desire to find little green men aboard 3I/ATLAS.

Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1 of this year and was quickly confirmed to be only the third interstellar object known to visit our solar system, after the 2017 flyby of bizarre object 1I/'Oumuamua and the more traditionally comet -like arrival of 2I/Borisov in 2019.