![This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Hubble photographed the comet on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 277 million miles from Earth. Hubble shows that the comet has a teardrop-shaped cocoon of dust coming off its solid, icy nucleus. Because Hubble was tracking the comet moving along a hyperbolic trajectory, the stationary background stars are streaked in the exposure. [Credit — Image: NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)]](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/67568703/bbaf014b38ae8bb1614573ceed7436c92f4a2c9f23ef93b2127a8c9e8640f8a4)
Overview
- China’s Tianwen‑1 orbiter published Mars‑orbit photos on November 6 showing 3I/ATLAS’s faint nucleus and coma during its early October pass by Mars.
- A recently filed JPL navigation update reports a small post‑perihelion deviation in 3I/ATLAS’s motion not accounted for by gravity alone, likely tied to outgassing.
- After its October 29 perihelion, the object reappeared to ground observers with rapid brightening and a distinctly blue signature, with reports of CO2 emission and unusual nickel signals still under analysis.
- NASA’s public release of some spacecraft imagery remains delayed by the government shutdown as Rep. Anna Paulina Luna seeks disclosures, and the Pentagon’s AARO says the object is assessed as a comet, not a UAP.
- Global observing efforts are queued, including an IAWN campaign from November 27 to January 27 and JWST in December, before a safe December 19 closest approach about 1.8 AU from Earth.