New Delhi, Oct. 31 -- Comet 3I/ATLAS is a newly identified interstellar object, meaning that it comes from outside our Solar System. It is only the third of its kind ever observed, following 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019. It was discovered on July 1, 2025.

The comet has been flying around the sun to reach perihelion (its closest point to sun) on Thursday (October 30).

It couldn't be seen from Earth. However, the European Space Agency (ESA) said its astronomers began using ground-based telescopes in Hawaii, Chile, and Australia to monitor 3I/ATLAS's progress.

So far, the comet has been observed by space telescopes close to Earth, including the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Teles...