The Hubble Space Telescope has delivered a breathtaking new visual of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, marking the third extraterrestrial visitor of its kind to be cataloged.
The discovery of 3I/ATLAS was attributed to the NASA-supported ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) observational facility, located in Rio Hurtado, Chile, on July 1, 2025.
At the point of its identification, the interstellar comet resided at a solar distance of 4.51 astronomical units (AU), exhibiting an eccentricity of 6.13.
Known alternatively by designations such as C/2025 N1 (ATLAS) and A11pl3Z, this celestial object originated from the direction of the Sagittarius constellation and is traversing space with a remarkable radial velocity approaching 58 kilometers (36 miles) per second.
3I/ATLAS achieved a significant proximity to Mars, maintaining a distance of 0.194 AU on October 3, and thereafter reached its closest orbital point to the Sun, termed perihelion, on October 30.
This interplanetary traveler is slated to approach Jupiter within a distance of 0.357 AU on March 16, 2026.
On November 30, astronomers leveraged Hubble’s sophisticated Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument to conduct detailed observations of 3I/ATLAS.
“The Hubble telescope meticulously tracked the comet’s trajectory as it traversed the celestial expanse,” researchers stated in an official communiqué.
“Consequently, background stars are rendered as elongated trails of luminescence.”
“Hubble had previously documented 3I/ATLAS in July, shortly following its initial detection, and a multitude of NASA missions have since undertaken studies of this comet.”
“It is anticipated that observational efforts will persist for an additional several months as 3I/ATLAS continues its outward journey from our Solar System.
“The image reveals a luminous, teardrop-shaped halo extending in the direction of the Sun,” commented Professor Avi Loeb of Harvard University, regarding the newly acquired Hubble imagery. He further elaborated.
“This sunwardly directed anti-tail appendage was also discernible in the pre-perihelion Hubble photograph, captured on July 21, during 3I/ATLAS’s approach to the Sun from a vantage point 56% more distant than that experienced from Earth.”
“The recent measurement of the luminous halo’s radius stands at approximately 40,000 kilometers (24,855 miles), with its anti-tail extension reaching an impressive 60,000 kilometers (37,282 miles).”
“In a recent scholarly publication, I posited that the comet’s coma, appearing as a teardrop in post-perihelion images of 3I/ATLAS, is linked to a substantial population of macroscopic, non-volatile constituents that detached from it due to its observed non-gravitational acceleration away from the Sun,” he stated.
“I had forecasted that by November 30th, this dispersed cluster of objects would be situated nearer to the Sun than 3I/ATLAS by approximately 60,000 kilometers, assuming a co-location with 3I/ATLAS at perihelion.”
“This calculated separation aligns precisely with the observed anti-tail extension forming the teardrop silhouette in the latest Hubble rendition.”
