NASA Spacecraft Captures Images Of Rare Interstellar Comet

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft captured images of interstellar comet 3I → ATLAS as it whizzed through the inner solar system. The comet, possibly the oldest ever seen by astronomers, was observed from a distance of about 102 million miles on November 6. The observations, which occurred weeks before the comet’s closest approach to Earth on December 19, collected seven hours of data using the Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph. This instrument analyzes ultraviolet light, separating it into wavelengths that reveal the chemical makeup of objects such as cometary comas.

Comet 3I → ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar visitor ever detected, following in the footsteps of 1I → ‘Oumuamua and 2I → Borisov. Its hyperbolic trajectory, unaffected by the sun’s gravity, confirms that it originated beyond the solar system and will never return. According to Forbes, the comet was discovered on July 1, 2025, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Chile. Since then, it has been imaged by numerous spacecraft, including the James Webb Space Telescope, Psyche, and the Hubble Space Telescope.