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February 28, 2026<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Interstellar Comet 3I\/ATLAS captured speeding through the solar system by Jupiter-bound spacecraft<\/p>\n This mysterious interstellar visitor is on a whirlwind journey through our solar system<\/p>\n By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n A camera on the European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA\u2019s) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) captured Comet 3I\/ATLAS last November.<\/p>\n In late 2025 a mysterious comet flew between the orbits of Earth and Mars and reached a speed of more than 150,000 miles per hour during its closest approach to the sun. The rare interstellar guest to our solar system captured astronomers\u2019 attention, and many trained their observations onto it in a bid to understand what exactly it is, why it is here and where it might be going.<\/p>\n Every new piece of data offers a glimpse at the space beyond our solar system. And as the comet, called 3I\/ATLAS, speeds through our cosmic neighborhood, space agencies have coopted spacecraft to observe it as it goes. The European Space Agency\u2019s Jupiter-bound spacecraft is no exception: a new image of the comet captured last November by the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE, reveals it to be almost egg-shaped, with a cloud of gas veiling its central core, or nucleus.<\/p>\n Comet 3I\/ATLAS, as seen from ESA\u2019s JUICE.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile 3I\/ATLAS is a visitor from interstellar space, travelling from outside the Solar System, its behaviour is completely in line with that expected from a \u2018normal\u2019 comet,\u201d the agency said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one knows where the comet came from,\u201d said David Jewitt, director of the Institute for Planets and Exoplanets at the University of California, Los Angeles, in a statement last year. \u201cYou can\u2019t project that back with any accuracy to figure out where it started on its path.\u201d<\/p>\n The trajectory of Comet 3I\/ATLAS as it passes through the solar system.<\/p>\n Comet 3I\/ATLAS has puzzled and excited scientists since it was first spotted in July 2025. Its extraordinary speed at the time\u2014137,000 miles per hour\u2014and strange trajectory indicated that it must been traveling through interstellar space for possibly billions of years, according to NASA. Just three interstellar objects have ever been discovered passing through our solar system. And despite the scramble to observe it as it goes, Comet 3I\/ATLAS remains very much a mystery.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like glimpsing a rifle bullet for a thousandth of a second,\u201d Jewitt said in the same statement.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 28, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Interstellar Comet 3I\/ATLAS captured speeding through the solar system by Jupiter-bound spacecraft This mysterious interstellar visitor is on a whirlwind journey through our solar system By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron A camera on the European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA\u2019s) Jupiter Icy Moons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[9841,1693,2902,2900,23436,1887,1885,23435,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-45551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-3iatlas","9":"tag-captured","10":"tag-comet","11":"tag-interstellar","12":"tag-jupiterbound","13":"tag-solar","14":"tag-spacecraft","15":"tag-speeding","16":"tag-system"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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