NASA has released a new image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. It was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
The visit of comet 3I/ATLAS was one of the most important space events of 2025. It is only the third object of interstellar origin found in our Solar System. Most likely, it is several billion years older than Earth.
During its journey, 3I/ATLAS repeatedly surprised scientists with its behavior and the chemical composition of its nucleus. But despite all the speculation and outright fakes, it is not an alien spacecraft. However, this does not make its visit any less interesting. After all, the comet came to us from another star system, completing an incredible journey during which it spent millions of years in space and traveled thousands of light-years.
Various ground-based observatories and spacecraft have photographed 3I/ATLAS on numerous occasions. Among them is Hubble. It first captured an image of the interstellar traveler in July, when it was just approaching the Sun.
At the end of October, 3I/ATLAS passed the perihelion of its orbit. Its brightness increased, and the structure of its tail became more complex. The comet also acquired an anti-tail. As part of a new campaign to study 3I/ATLAS, the Hubble telescope photographed it again. The image published by NASA was taken on November 30, when the comet was 286 million km from Earth. As Hubble tracked the changing position of 3I/ATLAS, the background stars in the image became elongated lines.
On December 19, 3I/ATLAS will approach Earth at a minimum distance of 269 million km. After that, the comet will begin to leave the Solar System. In March 2026, it will fly 53 million km from Jupiter, then rush into its endless journey through the Milky Way.
