An interstellar comet speeding through the solar system is putting on a show. Astronomers have captured dramatic new images of 3I/ATLAS, a visitor from beyond the stars, hurling jets of ice and dust into space as sunlight begins to thaw its frozen surface.
The striking composite image reveals a black dot — the comet’s solid, icy core — surrounded by a white halo known as the coma, or temporary atmosphere. From it, a stream of purple light erupts, representing a jet of gas and dust blasting toward the Sun.
This, according to scientists, is typical behavior for comets as they warm up, but in this case, it’s happening to a rare interstellar traveler — only the third such object ever observed passing through our solar system.
3I/ATLAS is currently racing toward its closest approach to the Sun, expected on 30 October, when it will swing to within 1.8 astronomical units (roughly 270 million kilometers) of Earth.
During that brief window, skywatchers using small telescopes may be able to catch a glimpse before the comet vanishes back into the depths of interstellar space, never to return.