The second Hubble Space Telescope view of comet 3I/ATLAS (Image credit: NASA / Hubble)
New observations from NASA and the European Space Agency have revealed a bright, increasingly active view of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, just days before its closest approach to Earth. As reported by Live Science, the comet is making its one-time trip through our solar system before heading back into deep space, and spacecraft have now captured its most detailed visuals yet.
3I/ATLAS was confirmed earlier this year as only the third known interstellar object ever detected passing through our neighborhood. Racing through space at roughly 130,000 miles per hour, it has already swung past Mars and completed its pass near the sun, where intense heat caused its surface ice to vaporize. That solar pass dramatically boosted its brightness and triggered large jets of gas and dust, making the comet easier to study.
A new image of comet 3I/ATLAS, taken from the ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice). (Image credit: ESA/Juice/NavCam)
NASA this week released a new image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. In the photo, the comet appears as a glowing white sphere surrounded by a cloud of dust and energized gas. Though the surrounding stars appear stretched into streaks, that blur is caused by Hubble tracking the comet in motion. Scientists say these latest readings refine size estimates, placing 3I/ATLAS somewhere between 1,400 feet and 3.5 miles wide, possibly the largest interstellar object ever recorded.
ESA also released its own view, captured by the Jupiter-bound JUICE spacecraft. The orbiter was only about 41 million miles from the comet during its observation window, giving it a closer vantage point than Hubble. Even with its navigation camera, the image shows a glowing coma and what appears to be two separate tails: a charged-plasma tail pointing upward and a fainter dust tail trailing outward. Full scientific data from JUICE will not arrive until early 2026, because the spacecraft is currently limited to a smaller antenna while shielding itself during a close solar pass.
Scientists expect interest to spike on December 19, when 3I/ATLAS reaches its closest point to Earth. It will still be around 170 million miles away, which means it will not become a dramatic naked-eye spectacle, but telescopes around the world will be able to view it. NASA’s fleet, ESA’s instruments, the James Webb Space Telescope, and ground observatories are all preparing for new measurements.
This is the last time the comet will ever be seen from our solar system. Unlike typical comets that orbit the sun, 3I/ATLAS is traveling on an open trajectory and will not return. For astronomers, that makes every captured image valuable.
Interstellar visitors are rare, and this moment offers scientists a final chance to examine material that may have originated from another star system entirely.