Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS swings by Earth soon
Comet 3I/ATLAS, a rare visitor from beyond our solar system, will make its closest pass to Earth on December 19, 2025—though it'll still be about 170 million miles away.
No worries about a collision; astronomers say we're totally safe.
What's with the weird "anti-tail?"
Spanish astronomers spotted a unique "anti-tail" jet coming from the comet this year.
It's tilted just slightly from the comet's spin axis, and Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb notes this creates a stable dayside and nightside that swap at perihelion (the comet's closest point to the Sun).
The odds of this alignment happening by chance? Just about 0.5%.
Can you spot it?
Good news for space fans: after hiding behind the Sun, 3I/ATLAS is back and being observed again by astronomers this December.
Pro observatories (like Gemini North and NASA) are also gearing up to study what makes this cosmic traveler so interesting.