He Hubble Space Telescope It provided one of the most detailed images of an object that comes from another star system: comet 3i/atlas. This is just the third interstellar object detected in history, and what makes it even more fascinating is its record speed while moving through space.
The discovery of comet 3i/atlas
On July 1, 2025, comet 3i/Atlas was first identified by the Telescope of the early alert network atlas, in Río Hurtado, Chile.
This detection system is financed by the POT and is designed to locate asteroids and comets. After this initial sighting, the records of other telescopes located in various parts of the world were reviewed, such as the Palomar Observatory in California, which had detected the comet since June 14, 2025.
The comet was named in honor of the team that discovered it, and the letter “i” indicates that its origin is outside the solar system, being the third object of this type identified.
Comet Characteristics: Speed and Location
The Hubble photographed the comet on July 21, 2025, when it was 365 million kilometers (approximately 227 million miles) of the earth and 446 million kilometers (about 277 million miles) of the sun. The captured images show a structure in the form of a tear of dust on the side of the kite illuminated by the solar radiation, together with the traces of its dust tail that extends from the nucleus.
According to the observations made, it is estimated that the kite icy nucleus has a size of less than 5.6 kilometers (about 3.5 miles) in diameter, although some calculations suggest that it could be as small as 320 meters (around 0.2 miles). It is thought that this kite could have formed more than 7,000 million years ago, long before the formation of the solar system.
Comet 3i/Atlas: A High Speed Trip
The kite moves at an impressive speed of 210,000 kilometers per hour (around 130,000 miles per hour), which makes it the fastest object ever recorded within the solar system.
It is not linked to the sun
The comet follows a hyperbolic path, which means that it is not gravitationally linked to the sun. According to the calculations made by NASA, the kite originated in the direction of the Sagittarius constellation, near the center of the Milky Way, and will continue its journey to the interstellar space, without returning to the solar system.
Before 3I/Atlas, only two objects of this type had been identified: 1i/ʻoumuamua in 2017 and 2i/Borisov in 2019. Like these, Comet 3i/Atlas was expelled from its star system of origin and has traveled for millions of years until reaching our cosmic neighborhood.
Is there a risk of impact of comet 3i/Atlas with the earth?
There is no danger that comet 3i/Atlas impact the earth. The closest distance will be approximately 270 million kilometers (about 168 million miles). In addition, its closest approach to the sun will occur on October 30, 2025, about 210 million kilometers (around 130 million miles), within the orbit of Mars.
The kite will remain visible to terrestrial telescopes until September 2025, but will then be hidden from the proximity to the Sun. It is expected that it will be observable again in early December 2025.