Hubble Explores Comet 3I/ATLAS Again
Credit: NASA
NASA and the European Space Agency almost simultaneously released new photographs of Comet 3I/ATLAS, which will soon make its closest approach to Earth. In the first case, the mysterious object was observed by the Hubble Space Telescope from orbit, and in the second, by the Juice probe in deep space.
Due to the long exposure and the comet’s motion relative to the telescope, the background stars stretched into characteristic diagonal blue-white streaks. At the time of the photograph, the comet was approximately 286 million kilometers from Earth and was continuing to move away from the Sun, heading beyond the Solar System.
This is the second observation of 3I/ATLAS by the Hubble Space Telescope: the first took place in July 2024, shortly after the comet’s discovery. Since then, the object has been actively studied by several NASA ground-based and space-based instruments. The closest images of the comet were obtained by the agency’s Mars probes, taken from a distance of approximately 30 million kilometers.
Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1, 2025—it is only the third object observed by humanity to arrive from beyond the Solar System. It received widespread media attention thanks to astrophysicist Avi Loeb’s theory that it could be an “alien probe” or “ship.” On December 19, the object will make its closest approach to Earth.
