A comet from interstellar space is visiting us: How to see
Heads up, space fans: interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS—straight from beyond our solar system—is making a rare flyby.
On October 30, 2025, it'll pass closest to the Sun (about 210 million kilometers away), just inside Mars's orbit.
This is a one-time visit; its wild orbit means it won't be coming back.
Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered in July
Spotted by NASA's ATLAS telescope in Chile on July 1, 2025 (with some earlier images from June), the comet is currently cruising toward us from the direction of Sagittarius.
No worries—it'll never get closer than about 240 million kilometers to Earth, so we're safe.
How to see the comet
If you've got access to a telescope, you can catch a glimpse until September before it hides behind the Sun's glare. It'll pop back into view in December as it heads out again.
Scientists are eager to study what this visitor is made of—early findings show it glows on its own even far from the Sun, which isn't typical for most comets.