Overview

• The Minor Planet Center assigned the name 3I/ATLAS after its discovery by the ATLAS survey on July 1, marking it as the third interstellar object ever observed.
• It travels at roughly 60 km/s on a hyperbolic trajectory with an eccentricity of 6.15, ensuring it will exit the Solar System without returning or posing any impact risk.
• Follow-up imaging revealed a 10 – 20 km nucleus enveloped in a faint gas and dust coma, confirming its active–comet status under the designation C/2025 N1 (ATLAS).
• ESO’s Very Large Telescope captured the first detailed images and spectra on July 3 and archival data back to May 22 have refined its orbit and activity profile.
• Scientists are coordinating ground-based and orbital observations for its passage within 1.6 AU of Earth, a perihelion of 1.4 AU in October and a close approach to Mars at 0.19 AU on October 3.