A spacecraft bound for Jupiter has captured a visitor from beyond the solar system.
This impressive image of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was taken by the JANUS scientific camera aboard the satellite. european space agencyJupiter’s ice satellite probe (juice) spaceship. It reveals the object’s glowing coma and extensive tail of gas and dust.
What is it?
Comet 3I/ATLAS is only the third known interstellar object ever detected to pass by our Earth. solar system. Unlike most comets, which have an origin kuiper belt or oort cloud, This icy wanderer formed around another star before washing ashore in our cosmic neighborhood.
The bright oval glow in the center of the image is the comet’s coma. A vast cloud of gas and dust released when sunlight heats a comet’s icy core. Extending from the coma is a long tail carved by radiation. solar and is widespread solar wind.
The arrows in the upper left indicate the comet’s direction of travel (blue) and the direction of the sun (yellow).
Why is it special?
Janus I captured this view On November 6, 2025, only 7 days after 3I/ATLAS made its closest approach to the Sun. At the time, Juice was about 41 million miles (66 million kilometers) away from the comet.
Throughout November, JUICE’s five instruments (JANUS, MAJIS, SWI, PEP, and UVS) observed the space wanderer and collected images and spectrometry data to determine its composition and activity.
But JUICE was on the opposite side of the sun earth During these observations, data had to be transmitted at a slower rate, delaying scientists’ initial confirmation of the results. The instrument team had to wait until last week to receive the data and is currently working hard to analyze it all. They plan to meet in late March to discuss their findings.