Interstellar comet is making its closest approach to Earth

A stray comet from different prima swings past Earth this week successful 1 past hurrah earlier racing backmost toward interstellar space.

Discovered implicit the summer, the comet known arsenic 3I/Atlas volition walk wrong 167 cardinal miles (269 cardinal kilometers) of our satellite connected Friday, the closest it gets connected its expansive circuit of the star system.

NASA continues to purpose its abstraction telescopes astatine the visiting crystal ball, estimated to beryllium betwixt 1,444 feet and 3.5 miles successful size. But it's fading arsenic it exits, truthful now's the clip for backyard astronomers to drawback it successful the nighttime entity with their telescopes.

The comet volition travel overmuch person to Jupiter successful March, zipping wrong 33 cardinal miles. It volition beryllium the mid-2030s earlier it reaches interstellar space, ne'er to return, said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies.

It's the 3rd known interstellar entity to chopped done our star system. Interstellar comets similar 3I/Atlas originate successful prima systems elsewhere successful the Milky Way, portion home-grown comets similar Halley's hail from the icy fringes of our star system.

A scope successful Hawaii discovered the archetypal confirmed interstellar visitant in 2017. Two years later, an interstellar comet was spotted by a Crimean amateur astronomer. NASA's sky-surveying Atlas scope successful Chile spotted comet 3I/Atlas successful July portion prowling for perchance unsafe asteroids.

Scientists judge the latest interloping comet, besides harmless, whitethorn person originated successful a prima strategy overmuch older than ours, making it a tantalizing target.

NASA has released respective images of 3I/Atlas, including one past month showing it determination done abstraction astir 180 cardinal miles from Earth.

This image, provided by NASA, shows the interstellar comet 3I/Atlas captured by the Hubble Space Telescope connected Nov. 30, 2025, astir 178 cardinal miles from Earth.  NASA, ESA, STScI, D. Jewitt (UCLA), M.-T. Hui (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory), J. DePasquale (STScI) via AP

In October, images taken by 2 Mars orbiters showed a bright, fuzzy achromatic dot of the comet, appearing to determination against a backdrop of distant stars arsenic it was astir 18,641,135 miles distant from Mars.

In September, an image showed the increasing tail of 3I/ATLAS streaking crossed our star system. 

Harvard idiosyncratic Ari Loeb, who believes he's seen proof of alien life before, said helium suspected the entity whitethorn alternatively person alien origins. 

"We should enactment each possibilities connected the array that it's a rock, a comet, oregon thing other until we get the evidence, the information that volition archer america what it is," Loeb said successful an interview with CBS Boston.

• NASA