NASA's Psyche spacecraft received new 3I/ATLAS images, confirming a third object and a second comet from beyond the solar system.
Psyche received four 3I/ATLAS observations over eight hours on September 8 and 9, 2025. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU.
3I/ATLAS was discovered by the ATLAS survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, on July 1, 2025.
The interstellar comet's orbit is the most dynamically extreme of any object ever recorded in the Solar System.
Also known as C/2025 N1 (ATLAS) and A11pl3Z, 3I/ATLAS reached its closest approach to the Sun on October 30, 2025.
The new images of the comet were taken over eight hours on September 8 and 9, 2025, when 3I/ATLAS was about 53 million km (33 million miles) away from NASA's Psyche spacecraft.
“These observations from the mission's multispectral scanner will help us refine 3I/ATLAS's trajectory,” the Psyche team said.
“The Psyche Multispectral Imager consists of a pair of identical cameras equipped with filters and telescopic lenses to photograph the metal-rich surface of the Psyche asteroid in different wavelengths of light.”
“Although Comet 3I/ATLAS was far from the spacecraft during these observations, the thermal imager's sensitivity to the comet's reflected sunlight meant the mission could accurately track the object.”
The new observations also provide more information about 3I/ATLAS's faint coma, or cloud of gas and dust, surrounding its core, a central frozen core of ice and rock.
“Psyche joins many other NASA missions in determining the comet's location over time, helping astronomers better understand its movement as it passes through the solar system,” the researchers said.
“While the comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA's space missions help support the agency's ongoing commitment to finding, tracking and better understanding solar system objects.”
