Hubble and Juice Capture Detailed Images of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) have captured detailed images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it approaches its closest point to Earth.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) have captured detailed images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it approaches its closest point to Earth.
Discovered on July 1, 2025, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Chile, 3I/ATLAS is the third known interstellar object to traverse our solar system.
Hubble first observed the comet on July 21, 2025, when it was 277 million miles from Earth, revealing a teardrop-shaped dust cocoon surrounding its icy nucleus. On November 30, Hubble re-imaged 3I/ATLAS, capturing an even clearer view as the comet was 178 million miles away.
Meanwhile, the Juice mission, en route to study Jupiter's icy moons, observed the comet in early November from approximately 41 million miles away. Juice's instruments detected a glowing coma and two distinct tails: a plasma tail of electrically charged gas and a faint dust tail of solid particles.
3I/ATLAS is set to make its closest approach to Earth on December 19, at a distance of 167 million miles. Positioned on the opposite side of the Sun, it poses no threat to our planet. The comet is expected to remain visible to telescopes and space missions for several more months before exiting our solar system.