November 19, 2025
2 minute read
Latest NASA images reveal interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS
A NASA spacecraft in the inner solar system has captured new images of Comet 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar object.
This movie shows observations of comet 3I/ATLAS by the Polarimeter for the Corona-Heliosphere Integration (PUNCH) from September 28 to October 10, 2025, when the comet was between 231 and 235 million miles from Earth. Each frame is a composite image consisting of several observations of the comet taken each day. The stars create streaks of light in the background as the comet moves across the sky. The bright object that appears next to the comet in several frames is the planet Mars.
NASA/Southwest Research Institute
NASA has just released a slew of new images of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, taken by some of the space agency's spacecraft.
The release comes after NASA scientists and engineers waited out a six-week government shutdown to see if a spacecraft located in the inner Solar System will see Comet 3I/ATLAS.an illustrious and intriguing object that is only the third known intruder from outside our solar system.
Today's discovery showed what the agency was able to achieve during these excellent surveillance opportunities.
About supporting science journalism
If you enjoyed this article, please consider supporting our award-winning journalism. subscription. By purchasing a subscription, you help ensure a future of influential stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
This image shows a halo of gas and dust, or coma, surrounding Comet 3I/ATLAS, the third interstellar object ever discovered by astronomers, as it passes through our Solar System. The image was taken on October 9, 2025 by an instrument aboard NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, which has been studying Mars from its orbit since 2014. The instrument, the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph, takes images in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum to reveal the chemical composition of objects. At the center of the image is the brightest pixel, indicating where the comet is located. The next brightest hues in the image represent areas where the instrument detected hydrogen atoms emanating from the comet. This hydrogen is released when sunlight heats the comet, causing its water ice to turn directly into steam. Once in space, water molecules break down into oxygen and hydrogen atoms.
NASA/Goddard/LASP/CU Boulder
The new images come from a wide range of NASA missions, including planetary science missions such as the Perseverance rover and the Mars AtmSphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) orbiter, as well as the asteroid missions Psyche and Lucy and the solar exploration spacecraft Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH).
“We are so blessed to have our incredible fleet of NASA science spacecraft across the solar system,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. “God, were they prepared for this event?”
READ MORE: The race to study an interstellar comet from deep space
Scientists 3I/ATLAS discovered for the first time July 1 using a telescope called the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), located in Chile. The combination of the comet's astonishing speed (it streaked through the solar system at 137,000 mph) and its unusual trajectory suggested that 3I/ATLAS was not in our celestial neighborhood.
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is visible as a faint smudge against the star field in two images taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA's Perseverance rover on October 4, 2025. At the time of the photo, the comet was about 18.6 million miles from the rover, which was exploring the edge of Jezero Crater on the Red Planet.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
This made the comet only the third confirmed interstellar object – after 1I/'Oumuamua, discovered in 2017, and comet 2I/Borisov, discovered in 2019.. Limited by these short visits, astronomers rushed to collect as many observations of Comet 3I/ATLAS as possible. To do this, they used instruments on Earth, in orbit, and even beyond.
“Each one was special and precious, and everyone would drop everything to look at them,” said Karen Meech, a planetary astronomer at the University of Hawaii. in an interview with Scientific American in October.
Past observations have shown that the comet is unusually rich in carbon dioxide and that this material appears to lie beneath the object's surface. This suggests that Comet 3I/ATLAS formed in a much colder location, farther from its star than comets in our Solar System, and was likely heated by its own or another star before visiting our Solar System.
Scientists are still learning everything the newly published observations show. At the same time, attempts to see comet 3I/ATLAS continue. James Webb Space TelescopeIn particular, it will attempt additional observations in December, NASA representatives noted today. The instrument will likely be the last NASA mission to see a comet on its way out of the solar system.
“I'm very excited to see what new things we learn about our friendly visitor to the solar system in the coming days and even in the coming years,” Fox said.
It's time to stand up for science
If you liked this article, I would like to ask for your support. Scientific American has been a champion of science and industry for 180 years, and now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I was Scientific American I have been a subscriber since I was 12, and it has helped shape my view of the world. science always educates and delights me, instills a sense of awe in front of our vast and beautiful universe. I hope it does the same for you.
If you subscribe to Scientific Americanyou help ensure our coverage focuses on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on decisions that threaten laboratories across the US; and that we support both aspiring and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
In return you receive important news, fascinating podcastsbrilliant infographics, newsletters you can't missvideos worth watching challenging gamesand the world's best scientific articles and reporting. You can even give someone a subscription.
There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you will support us in this mission.
:quality(85):upscale()/2025/11/19/710/n/1922153/ec89d2e5691dea42a91ce7.81523745_.png?w=150&resize=150,150&ssl=1 "Julianne Hough’s Dancing With the Stars Makeup Breakdown")
