Comet 3I/ATLAS Viewing: Last Chance This Saturday
A deep image of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS captured by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South at Cerro Pachón in chile,one half of the International Gemini Observatory and published Sept. 4,2025.
International Gemini Observatory
Did you see Comet 3I/ATLAS? After capturing the imaginations of many in 2025-even sparking conspiracy theories about it being an alien spacecraft-the interstellar space rock is now moving away from the sun and out of the solar system. But there’s one last chance for skywatchers to get a close-up view of this icy visitor.
What Is Comet 3I/ATLAS?
Initially called A11pl3Z when discovered on July 1, 2025, by the Deep Random survey remote telescope in Chile, part of the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey in Río Hurtado, chile, it was quickly renamed C/2025 N1 ATLAS upon confirmation as a comet. It’s unusual motion, though, revealed a highly hyperbolic orbit-meaning it isn’t gravitationally bound to the sun. Astronomers resolute it originated from another star system and is simply passing through. It became 3I/ATLAS, the third interstellar object ever observed, following 1I/Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.