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Comet 3I/ATLAS

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.

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NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Observes Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS from Oct. 18 to Nov. 5, 2025, with its WISPR (Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe) instrument. The spacecraft snapped around 10 images of the comet per day. During this period, Parker Solar Probe was speeding away from the Sun following its 25th solar flyby on Sept. 15. 

Comet 3I/ATLAS can be seen moving to the left in this video compilation of images taken by Parker Solar Probe’s WISPR (Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe) instrument from Oct. 18 to Nov. 5, 2025. The spacecraft had to be rolled along its axis to catch a view of the comet, placing north at the bottom of the images. The images have been initially processed to remove the bright solar corona and will be further processed and calibrated in the coming months. At the time of the images, the spacecraft was 172 million miles to 195 million miles from the comet.
NRL/NASA/JHUAPL. Movie processed/compiled by Guillermo Stenborg (JHUAPL)

In these initial images — which still need to go through final calibration and processing — the comet can be seen heading behind the Sun from Parker’s point of view. At the time, the comet was near its closest point to the Sun, at a distance of about 130 million miles, placing it just outside the orbit of Mars. The images offer a valuable look at the comet over a period when it couldn’t be seen from Earth because it appeared too close to the Sun from Earth’s perspective. 

The WISPR team is continuing to process the data to remove stray sunlight and compensate for exposure times, which differed between the images, causing the comet to appear as if it changed brightness. The final images will ultimately help scientists better study this interstellar visitor.  

These images show comet 3I/ATLAS moving from right to left in the raw, unprocessed observations captured by Parker Solar Probe’s WISPR instrument from Oct. 18 to Nov. 5, 2025. 
NRL/NASA/JHUAPL. Movie processed/compiled by Philip Hess (NRL)

Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered by the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, in July. It is the third known object originating from outside our solar system discovered passing through our solar neighborhood. Comet 3I/ATLAS was also seen by other NASA heliophysics missions including PUNCH, STEREO, and SOHO. 

By Mara Johnson-Groh 

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.