Comet 3I/ ATLAS nearest approach to Earth: See fresh photos of the interstellar visitor as it came closest to the planet

There has been a lot of buzz around interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS over the past couple of months. It is the third confirmed visitor from beyond our solar system. There have been numerous theories about the comet being an alien probe, proposed by Harvard scientist Avi Loeb.

Recently, comet 3I/ ATLAS made its closest pass to Earth on December 19, 2025, at about 270 million kilometers, 1.8 AU, safely between Earth and Mars orbits. Zipping at 68 km/s on its hyperbolic path, it hit perihelion on October 29 at 203.5 million km from the Sun, proving origins in another star's deep freeze, according to NASA.

Fresh images of 3I/ATLAS captured on the nearest approach to the Earth

A recently captured photo, from a Utah observatory via iTelescope.Net shows its bright coma, ion tail, and dust tail against Leo constellation galaxies. Astronomers stacked 74 minutes of exposures using a PlaneWave Delta Rho 500 telescope and ZWO ASI 6200M Pro camera. The resultant photo shows solar winds sculpting the gaseous haze around its nucleus.

What did the initial discoveries say

Discovered July 1, 2025, by Chile's ATLAS survey, after 'Oumuamua (2017) and Borisov (2019), JWST spectroscopy revealed high carbon monoxide, hinting at a frigid, billions-year-old birthplace, possibly the Milky Way's thick disk. Viewers can track it near Regulus via Stellarium apps until fading toward Jupiter by March 2026.

NASA’s probe released some photos earlier

NASA's Parker Solar Probe provided unique images from October 18-November 5, capturing ~10 daily WISPR images post its 25th solar flyby. At 172-195 million miles away, it rolled to peer through the solar corona when Earth views were blocked, aiding brightness and composition studies alongside STEREO, SOHO, and PUNCH data. A Mars vantage photo from NASA shows its glow, posing no collision risk.


As 3I/ATLAS heads out further in the solar system, it is getting closer to Jupiter, by March 2026, then Saturn/Uranus/Neptune by 2028, it leaves a legacy of discovery, no threat to Earth.