NASA's Juno may intercept 1st-ever interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS
NASA's Juno spacecraft, which has been orbiting Jupiter for years, may be retasked to intercept the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in March 2026.
The comet was first spotted by Chile's ATLAS system on July 1, 2025.
Scientists are excited because this flyby could reveal what stuff from outside our Solar System is really made of.
Juno will use Jupiter's gravity for a speed boost
Juno will use Jupiter's gravity for a speed boost—a move called the Oberth Maneuver—on September 9, 2025.
This clever trick lets Juno change course and meet up with the comet between March 14-16, 2026, without needing a brand-new spacecraft.
It'll pass about 0.36 AU from Jupiter (that's about one-third the distance from Earth to the Sun).
Comet core is less than 5.6km wide
Juno comes packed with science gear: infrared and UV spectrometers, a magnetometer, microwave radiometer, and cameras—all ready to scan the comet up close.
Hubble thinks the core of 3I/ATLAS is less than 5.6km wide, but Juno will get much more precise data during its close encounter.
All this could help us learn what interstellar visitors are really like!