New Hubble Image Shows Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Approaching Earth’s Neighborhood

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has again imaged the interstellar visitor known as 3I/ATLAS as the comet speeds through the inner solar system toward a December flyby of Earth’s neighborhood.

What Is 3I/ATLAS?

First identified in July 2025, 3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed object ever detected that originated outside our solar system. When discovered, it was moving at roughly 137,000 miles per hour, a velocity and trajectory that indicate an extrasolar origin and a hyperbolic orbit that will carry it back into interstellar space.

Hubble and Other Observations

Hubble captured a fresh view of the comet on Nov. 30, recording the object at about 178 million miles from Earth. Because Hubble tracked the comet during imaging, background stars appear as streaks while the comet remains steady in the frame.

Other facilities, including the James Webb Space Telescope, have targeted 3I/ATLAS. The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) also observed the comet between Nov. 2 and Nov. 25 while it was in a particularly active state after passing closest to the Sun on Oct. 30.

What JUICE Saw

Although JUICE is on the far side of the Sun from Earth and most data are expected to arrive later, engineers were able to download a quarter of a navigation-camera image taken on Nov. 2—two days before JUICE’s closest approach to the comet on Nov. 4 at about 41 million miles. That partial frame shows a bright coma and two distinct tails: an ion (gas) tail and a dust tail.

Size, Activity and Trajectory

Estimates of the nucleus size vary. ESA has suggested a broad range—from a few hundred feet to a few miles—while Hubble-based analyses have placed the solid, icy nucleus between roughly 1,400 feet and 3.5 miles in diameter. Observations show clear activity (outgassing) producing a glowing coma and two tails.

3I/ATLAS follows a hyperbolic path, meaning it is not bound to the Sun and will eventually leave the solar system. NASA projects the comet will pass about 170 million miles from Earth on Dec. 19—roughly twice the distance between Earth and the Sun—so it poses no danger.

Viewing Opportunities

The comet is not visible to the unaided eye, but observers with modest amateur telescopes should be able to spot it in the pre-dawn sky through spring 2026. NASA’s online tool "Eyes on the Solar System" provides up-to-date position and path visualizations for 3I/ATLAS.

Speculation and Official Response

Because 3I/ATLAS is an outsider, it has inspired speculation, including a high-profile suggestion by Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb that it could be artificial. Loeb has written that the object is "most likely a comet of natural origin" but has not dismissed other possibilities entirely. NASA scientists, including then-Acting Administrator Sean Duffy and Nicola Fox, Associate Administrator for Science, have said there are no signs of technosignatures and no evidence the object is anything other than a natural comet.

Bottom Line: 3I/ATLAS is an active, interstellar comet passing safely through our neighborhood; ongoing observations from Hubble, JWST, JUICE and other instruments will help refine its size, activity and trajectory.

Reporting note: This summary consolidates public releases from NASA and ESA and reporting by space journalists following the object’s discovery and subsequent imaging campaigns.