It's happening: we're finally getting a treasure trove of shiny new images of comet 3I/ATLAS, the third ultra-rare known object to enter the Solar System from interstellar space.
On Wednesday November 19 at 3PM EST (8PM UT), NASA will host an event to drop a plethora of 3I/ATLAS imagery collected by the ground-based telescopes and spacecraft supported by the agency.
You can tune in to watch at the YouTube embed below.
NASA is playing coy about the instruments involved, but Hubble, JWST, and Mars orbiters may likely have observed the object from space, while observatories such as the ATLAS survey telescope and the Gemini observatory may have captured it from the ground.
Related: Don't Panic! 3I/ATLAS Isn't an Alien Death Probe, But It Is Wildly Unusual
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS made a huge splash when it burst onto the scene in July 2025, but now we're at the critical point of its trajectory through the Solar System. The ultra-weird comet disappeared behind the Sun from Earth's viewpoint on October 21, and reached perihelion – that's its closest approach to the Sun – on October 29, before re-emerging in early November.
Perihelion is when you're likely to see a comet do some exciting things. They're known as 'dirty snowballs' because they are basically clumps of rock and ice; as they get near the Sun, the ice starts to sublimate, creating a tiny atmosphere, or coma, and the tails of vapor and ions that comets are known for. At perihelion, this activity is at its peak.
Because 3I/ATLAS was behind the Sun during perihelion, we were unable to observe this activity from Earth. However, the comet was really close to Mars at the time, leading to anticipation that instruments orbiting the red planet captured this moment. Indeed, we already have some Mars observations of the comet, courtesy of the European Space Agency.
As NASA pointed out, "Assets within NASA's science missions give the United States the unique capability to observe 3I/ATLAS almost the entire time it passes through our celestial neighborhood, and study – with complementary scientific instruments and from different directions – how the comet behaves."
A lot of eyes have been on this icy rock, and will continue to be until it disappears from view. But the best opportunity for ground-based observations is yet to come. 3I/ATLAS will make its closest approach to Earth on December 19, when it will be about 270 million kilometers (170 million miles) away.
We'll be excited to see what Earth's telescopes come up with when that day comes. Meanwhile, you can tune into the upcoming NASA broadcast on NASA+, the NASA Live website, the YouTube embed above, or the NASA app.