
European scientists have revealed that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was captured in unprecedented detail by the European Space Agency's JUICE spacecraft on 6 November 2025, when the mission was en route through the outer Solar System and the object was moving away from the Sun after its closest pass.
For context, 3I/ATLAS is only the third known interstellar comet ever confirmed, first spotted in June 2025 in data from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS. The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center later verified that its path could not be explained by any orbit bound to our own star.