Comet 3I/ATLAS has captured the attention of astronomers and skywatchers alike. What began as a tiny dot moving across a black-and-white image of the night sky has now transformed into a bright, glowing object with a long, streaming tail. Thanks to some of humanity’s most advanced telescopes, this interstellar visitor has been observed in extraordinary detail.
A Rare Visitor Across Our Sky
3I/ATLAS is not an ordinary comet. It is only the third interstellar object ever recorded passing through our Solar System. Unlike comets that orbit the Sun, 3I/ATLAS is simply passing through and will eventually leave the Solar System forever. By late October 2025, it will disappear behind the Sun, and reappear in November before continuing its journey into the vast expanse of space.
Because of its rare interstellar origin, astronomers are using every available tool to study it while it remains in view. Multiple telescopes have tracked the comet in different wavelengths, helping scientists learn more about its trajectory, composition, and physical properties.
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Observing Comet 3I/ATLAS: A Gallery of Discoveries
The discovery of 3I/ATLAS was first reported on July 1, 2025, by the ATLAS survey telescope in Chile. The initial image showed a small dot moving across the sky, marking the comet’s arrival from interstellar space. These early observations were crucial in identifying the comet’s unusual path and distinguishing it from objects native to our Solar System.
Soon after, the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile captured a composite image of the comet, showing its movement across the sky over a 13-minute period on July 3, 2025. This telescope also provided a close-up view of the comet, revealing more details of its glowing coma—the cloud of gas and dust surrounding its nucleus.
The Gemini North Telescope in Hawai‘i then contributed valuable images. Using its Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS-N), astronomers observed the comet’s coma and analyzed the chemical composition of its gas and dust. These early observations helped identify the materials surrounding the comet, offering insight into its origin in interstellar space.
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Later in July, the Hubble Space Telescope captured detailed images of 3I/ATLAS. Hubble’s observations allowed scientists to better estimate the size of the comet’s nucleus, which consists of ice and dust. Around the same time, NASA’s SPHEREx spacecraft observed the comet in the near-infrared spectrum. SPHEREx detected water ice in the nucleus and carbon dioxide in the surrounding coma, helping astronomers understand the comet’s chemical makeup.
The James Webb Space Telescope also studied 3I/ATLAS in August 2025. Webb’s near-infrared observations revealed the comet contains water ice, water vapor, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and carbonyl sulfide. These findings complement previous observations, confirming the presence of multiple volatile elements in the comet.
The Latest Stunning Views
In late August 2025, the Gemini South Telescope in Chile captured the most recent images of 3I/ATLAS. These photographs showed the comet becoming more active, with its tail stretching longer as it traveled through the Solar System. Using red, green, blue, and ultraviolet filters, astronomers were able to create detailed, colorful images of the comet, even while stars in the background appeared as streaks due to the telescope tracking the comet’s movement.
Advanced image processing was applied to the Gemini South images to remove the background star streaks, resulting in a clear, deep image of the comet. These images highlight the comet’s glowing coma, long tail, and movement across the sky, offering the public a rare chance to observe a visitor from another star system.
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The combined efforts of ground-based and space-based telescopes have created a comprehensive visual record of 3I/ATLAS. Each telescope has contributed unique observations, revealing not only the comet’s trajectory but also its chemical composition, physical structure, and extraordinary activity.
While 3I/ATLAS is currently behind the Sun and temporarily out of sight, astronomers have already captured a wealth of data and images. The comet’s passage through our Solar System continues to provide a rare opportunity to study a piece of our galaxy that is over seven billion years old, almost twice the age of the Sun.
The photographs and observations of Comet 3I/ATLAS collected so far represent one of the most significant and visually stunning studies of an interstellar visitor in human history.
