A Uncommon Customer From Past the Photo voltaic System: NASA and ISRO have joined forces to look at one of the vital extraordinary cosmic travellers ever detected, 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar comet hurtling by means of house at an unimaginable 130,000 miles per hour. Captured utilizing India’s 1.2-metre Mount Abu telescope and a fleet of NASA spacecraft, this celestial object marks solely the third confirmed interstellar customer after ‘Oumuamua and Borisov.
On November 19, ISRO launched high-resolution photographs from the Mount Abu Observatory, whereas NASA revealed a multi-mission dataset providing a few of the closest and clearest views of the comet because it swept previous Mars.
NASA’s Mars Orbiters Catch the Comet Up Shut
As 3I/ATLAS approached the Crimson Planet earlier this autumn, three NASA spacecraft locked their devices onto it. When the comet was simply 19 million miles (30 million km) away, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter used its well-known HiRISE digital camera to supply one of many sharpest views ever captured of an interstellar object passing by.
These photographs present the comet’s creating coma, an increasing cloud of fuel and mud, as photo voltaic radiation started heating its nucleus.
MAVEN’s Ultraviolet Eyes Reveal Water-Ice Exercise
NASA’s MAVEN orbiter took issues a step additional. Utilizing its Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph, MAVEN detected a surrounding hydrogen halo, indicating that water-ice was quickly sublimating because the comet warmed close to the Solar. That is essential proof, confirming that 3I/ATLAS carries water from a wholly completely different star system.
Perseverance Rover Spots the Customer From the Martian Floor
Even from the floor of Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover joined the hassle. Almost 30 million km from the comet, its Mastcam-Z digital camera recorded a faint streak of 3I/ATLAS racing throughout the sky, a wide ranging second that highlights the dimensions and precision of recent planetary science.
NASA’s Solar-Watching Missions Reveal Hidden Tail Buildings
Because the comet dipped nearer to the Solar, NASA introduced in its photo voltaic fleet:
STEREO
SOHO
PUNCH
By combining picture stacking and polarimetric methods, scientists had been in a position to improve faint particulars of the comet’s tail, uncovering hidden buildings formed by photo voltaic wind and radiation, options too refined for ground-based telescopes to detect.
Lucy & Psyche Assist Map Its Orbit From Thousands and thousands of Miles Away
Two deep-space missions additionally contributed essential knowledge.
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft captured 4 observations from 33 million miles away over eight hours in early September.
Lucy recorded a sequence of photographs from 240 million miles away on September 16, serving to refine estimates of the comet’s coma and its hyperbolic trajectory.
Collectively, these observations helped scientists calculate its path by means of our Photo voltaic System with outstanding precision.
We have simply launched the most recent photographs of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, as noticed by eight completely different spacecraft, satellites, and telescopes.
Here is what we have realized concerning the comet — and the way we’re finding out it throughout the photo voltaic system: https://t.co/ZIt1Qq6DSp pic.twitter.com/ITD6BqVlGn
— NASA (@NASA) November 19, 2025
ISRO’s Mount Abu Telescope Offers Detailed Floor Pictures
Again on Earth, scientists at ISRO’s Bodily Analysis Laboratory used the Mount Abu 1.2-metre telescope between 12 and 15 November to acquire sharp optical photographs.
These false-colour visuals reveal a near-circular coma, whereas spectroscopic evaluation detected attribute emissions of CN, C₂ and C₃, chemical compounds generally present in energetic comets.
Bodily Analysis Laboratory (PRL) used its 1.2 m telescope at Mount Abu to look at the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS post-perihelion.
For extra data go tohttps://t.co/hGs5FcDa44
#SpaceScience #Astronomy #DOS pic.twitter.com/ZgywJbWfm9
— ISRO (@isro) November 19, 2025
Why 3I/ATLAS Issues
Interstellar objects are extremely uncommon, solely three have ever been confirmed. Not like comets from our Oort Cloud, these objects are formed by fully completely different star programs, carrying materials solid round alien suns.
Finding out 3I/ATLAS offers scientists a once-in-a-lifetime alternative to:
1. Perceive planetary formation in different programs
2. Examine chemical signatures throughout star environments
3. Observe how interstellar particles reacts to our Solar
4. Refine fashions of how objects journey between star programs
Travelling at 130,000 mph, this comet is shifting far too quick to stay in our Photo voltaic System. However the knowledge collected by NASA and ISRO ensures it’s going to depart behind invaluable scientific insights lengthy after it slips again into interstellar darkness.