Two spacecraft on Mars have captured new images of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in the closest view that the European Space Agency (ESA) will get of the mysterious object, according to an ESA statement.
The comet, which came from an unknown star system far beyond our own, is currently taking a months-long tour of the inner solar system. It made its closest approach to Mars Friday (Oct. 3) ahead of a close encounter with the sun on Oct. 30. During its recent flyby of the Red Planet, the comet came within view of ESA and NASA's fleet of robotic explorers, including ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Mars Express orbiter.
