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New images show comet 3I/ATLAS getting active as it zooms toward Earth
NASA and ESA both shared new images of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS this week, as the agencies gear up for the mysterious object's closest approach to Earth on Dec. 19.
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The celebrity comet 3I/ATLAS is showing itself out of our solar system for good — but not before the cosmic paparazzi at Earth's space agencies snap some of the clearest photos of it yet.
Discovered in late June and confirmed to be the third known interstellar object in July, 3I/ATLAS has spent the past several months zooming through the inner solar system at an estimated 130,000 mph (210,000 km/h). The massive, jet-spewing snowball made its closest approaches to Mars and the sun in October. It is due for its closest encounter with Earth on Dec. 19, when it will be about 170 million miles (270 million kilometers) away — nearly twice the distance between our planet and the sun.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Revisits Interstellar Comet
Cataloguing the journey of comet 3I/ATLAS through the solar system. Because the object comes from outside our solar system, it is just passing through – so we use all the tools at our disposal to observe it before it disappears back into the cosmic dark. A host of NASA missions are coming together to observe this interstellar object, which was first discovered in summer 2025, before it leaves forever. While the comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA’s space telescopes help support the agency's ongoing mission to find, track, and better understand solar system objects.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reobserved interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Nov. 30, with its Wide Field Camera 3 instrument. At the time, the comet was about 178 million miles (286 million kilometers) from Earth. Hubble tracked the comet as it moved across the sky. As a result, background stars appear as streaks of light.
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Comet 3I/ATLAS shows activity in Juice navigation camera teaser
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During November 2025, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) used five of its science instruments to observe 3I/ATLAS. The instruments collected information about how the comet is behaving and what it is made of.
In addition, Juice snapped the comet with its onboard Navigation Camera (NavCam), designed not as a high-resolution science camera, but to help Juice navigate Jupiter’s icy moons following arrival in 2031.
Though the data from the science instruments won’t arrive on Earth until February 2026, our Juice team couldn’t wait that long. They decided to try downloading just a quarter of a single NavCam image to see what was in store for them. The very clearly visible comet, surrounded by signs of activity, surprised them.
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