3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: When and how to watch ATLAS? When does it peak?

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: The European Space Agency (ESA) ruled out sending a spacecraft due to the comet’s extremely high speed and short approach window. Instead, scientists will study it from afar using telescopes like Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope to analyse its dust and gas.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: As 3I/ATLAS nears the Sun, astronomers have detected it releasing a jet of material directed toward the Sun. This happens when solar heat vaporizes the comet’s icy surface. Space.com reported that images show its glowing coma and a bright jet highlighted in purple.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: A comet is a large icy object that travels around the Sun, forming a glowing tail as sunlight heats it. A meteorite, on the other hand, is a small fragment of rock or metal that enters Earth’s atmosphere, appearing as a shooting star before landing on the ground.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1, 2025. Since then, astronomers have been studying it closely. It’s only the third interstellar comet ever found — meaning it came from outside our Solar System and will eventually leave it forever. According to the BBC, it’s a one-time visitor, unlike typical comets that orbit the Sun repeatedly.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: Perihelion is the point in an object’s orbit when it comes closest to the Sun. For comets, which usually have long, stretched orbits, this point is significant because they heat up and release gas and dust. In contrast, planets have nearly circular orbits, so the difference between their perihelion and aphelion (farthest point) is minor.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) will have one of the best views of 3I/ATLAS when it becomes most active in November 2025. Juice will use cameras, spectrometers, and particle sensors to study the comet and may coordinate observations with NASA’s Europa Clipper. ESA expects data from these observations by February 2026.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: According to NASA, 3I/ATLAS originated in another star system. It was ejected into interstellar space millions or billions of years ago and has been traveling between stars ever since. It’s now approaching from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: The name “3I/ATLAS” follows a naming convention: “3” marks it as the third interstellar object, “I” stands for interstellar, and “ATLAS” credits the telescope project that discovered it.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: ESA is using multiple spacecraft, including Mars Express, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) — to study the comet. These missions will help observe its activity from different points in the Solar System.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: ESA confirmed that the comet’s fast, inward trajectory and timing make a direct mission impossible. Instead, astronomers are using telescopes like Hubble and James Webb to remotely study its composition and dust plume.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured a dust plume and a trailing tail of ice particles. The James Webb Space Telescope detected carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbonyl sulphide, and water ice — all vaporized as the comet heats up near the Sun.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: NASA confirmed it’s a comet because it shows a coma, a glowing halo of gas and dust, caused by sunlight heating its icy core. This activity is not seen in asteroids.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: Observations from Hubble suggest the comet’s nucleus measures between 440 meters and 5.6 kilometers in diameter.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker:

Size: Between a few hundred meters and a few kilometers wide

Speed: Around 210,000 km/h — the fastest known Solar System visitor

Closest approach to Mars: ~30 million km on October 3, 2025

Closest approach to the Sun: ~210 million km on October 30, 2025

Closest approach to Earth: ~270 million km on December 19, 2025

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: After its discovery by NASA’s ATLAS telescope, ESA began tracking it with ground-based observatories and will soon involve spacecraft like Mars Express, ExoMars TGO, and JUICE for deeper study.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: The comet is currently passing through the constellation Virgo, about 344.8 million kilometers (2.3 AU) from Earth. It’s too faint to be seen without a telescope.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker:The comet was first spotted by the NASA-funded ATLAS telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile, on July 1, 2025. Its hyperbolic orbit showed it came from beyond the Solar System.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: It’s only the third interstellar object ever detected, offering scientists a rare glimpse into materials formed around another star system.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: NASA has deployed multiple missions to gather data, including Hubble, Webb, TESS, Swift, Lucy, Psyche, Parker Solar Probe, Perseverance, Curiosity, Europa Clipper, and the joint SOHO and Juice missions with ESA.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: The object was reported to the Minor Planet Center on July 1, 2025, after being spotted by ATLAS. Archived data later showed it had been visible since mid-June.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker:Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1, 2025.

Since then, astronomers have been studying it closely. It’s only the third interstellar comet ever found, meaning it came from outside our Solar System and will eventually leave it forever. According to the BBC, it’s a one-time visitor, unlike typical comets that orbit the Sun repeatedly.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: Space enthusiasts can track the journey of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS through NASA’s interactive tool, Eyes on the Solar System.

The rare visitor stirred excitement earlier this month when it made its closest approach to any planet, passing by Mars between October 2 and 3 at a distance of roughly 29 million kilometers.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: NASA said that Comet 3I/ATLAS is not a threat to Earth and will be at a safe distance.

3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Live Tracker: The closest it will approach Earth will be around 1.8 astronomical units (about 170 million miles, or 270 million kilometers). It will approach its closest point to the Sun around October 30.