Cataloguing the journey of comet 3I/ATLAS through the solar system. Because the object comes from outside our solar system, it is just passing through – so we use all the tools at our disposal to observe it before it disappears back into the cosmic dark. A host of NASA missions are coming together to observe this interstellar object, which was first discovered in summer 2025, before it leaves forever. While the comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA’s space telescopes help support the agency's ongoing mission to find, track, and better understand solar system objects.
NASA’s SPHEREx mission turned its infrared gaze on interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in December 2025, adding to the deep pool of information the agency has gathered on what is only the third such object to be discovered passing through our solar system. In a new research note, mission scientists describe the detection of organic molecules, such […]
