NASA’s Webb Space Telescope Reveals Secrets of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
Webb, Hubble, and SPHEREx are joining forces to study the interstellar
comet 3I/ATLAS, revealing details about its structure and chemistry. The
comet isn’t dangerous, but it’s offering scientists a rare chance to
explore material from outside our solar system.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured detailed observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, working in tandem with other missions like Hubble and SPHEREx to uncover the comet’s size, makeup, and physical traits. Credit: NASA/James Webb Space Telescope.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Aug. 6, with its Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument. The research team has been analyzing insights from Webb's data, and a preprint is available online. Webb is one of NASA's space telescopes observing this comet, together providing more information about its size, physical properties, and chemical makeup. For example, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the recently launched SPHEREx mission have also observed the comet. While the comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA's space telescopes help support the agency's ongoing mission to find, track, and better understand solar system objects.
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Journal Reference:
- Martin A. Cordiner, Nathaniel X. Roth, Michael S. P. Kelley, Dennis Bodewits, Steven B. Charnley, Maria N. Drozdovskaya, Davide Farnocchia, Marco Micheli, Stefanie N. Milam, Cyrielle Opitom, Megan E. Schwamb, Cristina A. Thomas. JWST detection of a carbon dioxide dominated gas coma surrounding interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. arXiv, 29 Aug 2025 DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2508.18209