Rare images captured by ESA show interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it whizzes past Mars

A mysterious interstellar comet recently entered our solar system and whizzed past the Red planet — Mars. The phenomenal spectacle was captured by the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Mars Express spacecraft. This marks the third such celestial body ever confirmed to have entered our solar system.

The stunning images released by ESA, captured by Mars obiter stationed 30 million km away, show the comet named 3I/ATLAS as a bright dot shrouded in a glowing cloud of dust and gas, traversing the vast expanse of space. Made up of a solid nucleus of ice, rock and dust, the comet 3I/ATLAS was first detected in July.

Since then, this celestial body has been an object of interest among astronomers and space enthusiasts. ESA in a press release dated October 7 stated, “Comet 3I/ATLAS is the slightly fuzzy white dot moving downwards near the middle of the image. Despite not being designed to capture something so far away, ExoMars TGO revealed the coma of gas and dust surrounding the icy-rocky nucleus.”

3I/ATLAS' closest point to the sun during flyby

According to astronomers, the comet will swing through the inner solar system in the weeks ahead and reach a point closest to the sun on or around October 30 during its flyby. As per the space agency, the interstellar object will reappear on the other side of the Sun by early December 2025.

The ESA in a statement said, “Every planet, moon, asteroid, comet and lifeform in our solar system share a common origin,” the ESA said, according to ESA, interstellar comets are outsiders, carrying clues about the formation of worlds far beyond our own.

Will comet 3I/ATLAS approach the Earth?

NASA scientists studying its movements say that this celestial body does not pose a threat to the Earth. “The closest it will approach our planet is about 1.8 astronomical units (about 170 million miles, or 270 million kilometers),” NASA said.

Notably, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter's instruments were designed to click photos of Mars' surface, not distant objects located millions of miles away, principal investigator for the spacecraft’s imaging system Nick Thomas said.

“This was a very challenging observation for the instrument,” Nick Thomas said, adding, “The comet is around 10,000 to 100,000 times fainter than our usual target,” NBC reported.