NASA’s Major Discovery as Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Nears the Sun
Something extraordinary is happening in our solar system right now — an interstellar visitor named Comet 3I/ATLAS is swinging by the sun, and while we can’t see it from Earth, several spacecraft across the solar system are getting a front-row seat. This comet, discovered back in July 2025, isn’t from around here. It’s actually only the third known interstellar object ever spotted passing through our solar system — a true traveler from another star system, carrying secrets billions of years old.
On October 30, 2025, 3I/ATLAS reaches what astronomers call perihelion — the point in its journey when it’s closest to the sun, about 125 million miles away. Normally, that’s when a comet is most active, because the sun’s warmth makes the ice on its surface vaporize, creating those dramatic tails we’re used to seeing. Unfortunately for us on Earth, 3I/ATLAS is currently hidden behind the sun, lost in its blinding glare since late September. We won’t see it again until mid-November or early December.
Also Read:- Addison Barger Could Be Baseball’s Next Two-Way Star
- Anthony Davis Injury Sends Shockwaves Through Mavericks Camp
But that doesn’t mean it’s going unobserved. NASA and the European Space Agency have a fleet of spacecraft in just the right positions to study this cosmic visitor. Mars orbiters, the Psyche and Lucy missions, and ESA’s JUICE probe are all watching closely as 3I/ATLAS races around the sun. JUICE, interestingly, is currently using its antenna as a sun shield, so it won’t be able to send back data until early next year — but the observations are happening right now.
The real excitement, though, comes from a major scientific breakthrough. NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, working with a team at Auburn University, detected faint ultraviolet light from the comet that indicates the presence of hydroxyl — a chemical signature of water. This means 3I/ATLAS is releasing water vapor, even though it’s much farther from the sun than where most comets usually start doing that. Scientists measured that it’s losing about 40 kilograms of water every second — which is remarkable at that distance.
This discovery changes a lot about what we thought we knew regarding interstellar comets. Previous visitors like ‘Oumuamua and Borisov showed completely different characteristics. 3I/ATLAS, on the other hand, is releasing water in a region where it shouldn’t, hinting that its surface or internal chemistry is unlike anything from our solar system. Researchers believe sunlight may be heating tiny icy grains that got ejected from the comet’s nucleus, allowing them to vaporize and form a glowing cloud of gas.
What makes this even more fascinating is that 3I/ATLAS could be over seven billion years old — older than Earth itself — meaning it carries chemical clues from another star system formed long before our own. As NASA’s Dennis Bodewits puts it, “When we detect water from an interstellar comet, we’re reading a note from another planetary system.”
So, while we can’t see 3I/ATLAS blazing across our sky, spacecraft across the solar system are capturing data that could rewrite our understanding of how planets and comets form — and maybe even offer hints about where life’s ingredients come from.
Read More:
0 Comments