{"id":390685,"date":"2025-11-19T20:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/390685\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T20:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:44:11","slug":"view-interstellar-comet-3i-atlas-through-nasas-multiple-lenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/390685\/","title":{"rendered":"View Interstellar Comet 3I\/ATLAS Through NASA\u2019s Multiple Lenses\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lee esta historia en espa\u00f1ol aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NASA is in the midst of an unprecedented solar system-wide observation campaign, turning its spacecraft and space telescopes to follow comet 3I\/ATLAS, the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system. Twelve NASA assets have captured and processed imagery of the comet since it was first discovered on July 1, and several others will have opportunities to capture more images as the comet continues to pass through our solar system.\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
By observing the comet from so many locations, NASA has an opportunity to learn about the ways that\u00a03I\/ATLAS<\/a>\u00a0differs from our solar system\u2019s home-grown comets and give scientists a new window into how the compositions of other systems may differ from our own.
\u00a0
Observations from Mars<\/strong>
The closest imagery of the comet was taken by NASA\u2019s spacecraft at Mars. Earlier this fall, 3I\/ATLAS passed by Mars from a distance of\u00a019 million miles, where it was observed by three NASA spacecraft. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured one of the closest images of the comet, while the MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) orbiter obtained ultraviolet images that will help scientists understand the comet\u2019s make-up. Meanwhile, the Perseverance rover grabbed a faint glimpse from the surface of Mars.<\/p>\n

Sun watchers\u2019 view<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some of NASA\u2019s heliophysics missions have the unique ability to observe areas of the sky near the Sun,\u00a0which allowed them to track comet 3I\/ATLAS as it passed behind our Sun as seen from Earth, making observations with ground-based telescopes impossible.\u00a0NASA\u2019s STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) captured images from Sept. 11 to Oct. 2, and the ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA mission SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) observed the comet on Oct. 15 and 16. Images from NASA\u2019s\u00a0PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, which launched earlier this year, reveal the comet\u2019s tail during observations\u00a0from Sept. 20 to Oct. 3.<\/p>\n

Despite previously observing and discovering thousands of comets, this is the first time NASA\u2019s heliophysics missions have purposefully observed an object originating in another solar system.<\/p>\n

Asteroid explorers<\/strong><\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Psyche and Lucy spacecraft, currently on their respective outbound journeys to study various asteroid targets throughout the solar system, were able to observe 3I\/ATLAS en route. On Sept. 8 and 9, Psyche\u00a0acquired four observations of the comet over eight hours from a distance of 33 million miles. These images will help scientists refine the comet\u2019s trajectory. On Sept. 16, Lucy took a series of images from 240 million miles away. Stacking these images together provides detail on\u00a0the comet\u2019s coma and tail.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0NASA-funded\u00a0ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System)\u00a0telescope<\/a>\u00a0in Chile discovered 3I\/ATLAS on July 1. Later that month it was viewed by NASA\u2019s\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>. In August, both NASA\u2019s\u00a0James Webb Telescope<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0SPHEREx<\/a>\u00a0(Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) captured imagery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Comet 3I\/ATLAS will fly closest to Earth about Friday, Dec. 19, at 170\u00a0million miles, which is almost twice the distance between the Earth and Sun. NASA spacecraft will continue\u00a0to observe the comet as it makes its journey through the solar system, passing the orbit of Jupiter in spring 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more information on NASA\u2019s comet 3I\/ATLAS observations, visit:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/go.nasa.gov\/3I-ATLAS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lee esta historia en espa\u00f1ol aqu\u00ed. NASA is in the midst of an unprecedented solar system-wide observation campaign,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":390686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[15875,41183,20907,99920,185947,3091,42599,42601,185948,40026,42603,14409,115867,27902,185949,92427,159,41188,2689,185950,185951,50340,162,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-390685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-comets","9":"tag-heliophysics","10":"tag-hubble-space-telescope","11":"tag-james-webb-space-telescope-jwst","12":"tag-lucy","13":"tag-mars","14":"tag-mars-2020","15":"tag-mars-reconnaissance-orbiter-mro","16":"tag-maven-mars-atmosphere-and-volatile-evolution","17":"tag-missions","18":"tag-perseverance-rover","19":"tag-planetary-science","20":"tag-planetary-science-division","21":"tag-planets","22":"tag-polarimeter-to-unify-the-corona-and-heliosphere-punch","23":"tag-psyche-mission","24":"tag-science","25":"tag-science-research","26":"tag-science-mission-directorate","27":"tag-soho-solar-and-heliospheric-observatory","28":"tag-stereo-solar-terrestrial-relations-observatory","29":"tag-the-solar-system","30":"tag-the-sun","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-unitedstates","33":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}