00:00A NASA-funded telescope, the Atlas Survey Telescope in Chile, first reported observations of the comet on July 1, 2025,
00:07to the Minor Planet Center.
00:09And NASA has been tracking and studying Comet 3I Atlas ever since.
00:13We're here today to give you the latest of what we know about Comet 3I Atlas and what we still
00:17want to know.
00:18But first, what is a comet?
00:20It's a small, natural, solid body that is a combination of rocky and icy material that evaporates as it warms
00:26when it's close to a star like the sun.
00:29But to start with, I'd like to address the rumors right at the beginning.
00:32I think it's important that we talk about that.
00:34This object is a comet.
00:36It looks and behaves like a comet and has, and all evidence points to it being a comet.
00:40But this one came from outside the solar system, which makes it fascinating, exciting, and scientifically very important.
00:47This is only the third interstellar object like this that humanity has ever found.
00:52A little bit more about the rumors.
00:53I think it's very important, and I'm actually very excited that a lot of the world was speculating about the
01:00comet while NASA was in a period where we couldn't speak about it due to the recent government shutdown.
01:04I think what I took away from that whole experience and watching that as we were working during the shutdown
01:10was just how interested and how excited people were about the possibility of what this comet could be.
01:19There was a lot of speculation about what it could be, but what I think is really awesome is that
01:23folks were interested in this incredible finding that we observed and that came from the heavens.
01:29And what that means, what it could mean about how magical the universe could be.
01:34It expanded people's brains to think about how magical the universe could be.
01:38And I'll tell you, here at NASA, we think that every day.
01:41And so it's really great that you were able to join us while we were not able to comment because
01:46of the shutdown constraints about what that comet is.
01:49Because we think the universe is a magical place, and we spend your treasure and we spend all of our
01:54time trying to make sure that we explore that and share it with you as much as we can.
01:58In fact, we want very much to find signs of life in the universe.
02:03In fact, just a few months ago, we were with you and we talked about what we think might be
02:08the signal from ancient life on the surface of Mars,
02:11from our amazing machines that have been roving the planet for 30 years to look for those things.
02:16That is something that's really important for us to learn about and discover.
02:21It could be an amazing discovery if and when we can confirm that.
02:24But 3-I Atlas is a comet.
02:27So my colleagues from the Science Mission Directorate will go through the images in detail.
02:31But just to give you a peek, here's one of the images from the closest physical instrument we had to
02:36the comet,
02:36from the high-rise instrument on our Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,
02:40taken on October 2nd as the comet sailed by at a distance of 19 million miles from the instrument.
02:45You can see that Comet 3-I Atlas looks like a fuzzy white ball.
02:48That ball is a cloud of dust and ice called the coma,
02:51which is shed by the comet as it continues its trajectory towards the sun.
02:55I'll leave it to my esteemed colleagues to share further details,
02:58and I'd like to introduce you to the head of NASA Science, Nikki Foxx.
03:02Thank you so much.
03:04It is such a rare opportunity for us to be able to observe this interstellar comet.
03:09And NASA Science has been given this really, really exciting opportunity to do it.
03:14And literally from the moment of its discovery.
03:17Just like Amit said, comets are tiny cosmic snowballs.
03:21And by studying them, we can learn about the environment from, you know,
03:25basically where they formed, where they came from.
03:27This one came from a different environment from our own.
03:30And so we're already starting to see some really interesting differences to comets from our own solar system.
03:363-I Atlas, as you heard, is the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system.
03:42The first one being identified in 2017.
03:46While these types of interstellar objects have long been predicted,
03:50we are just beginning to be able to find them thanks to the newest technologies
03:54with our network of Earth-based telescopes,
03:57which are designed to find small, fast-moving objects in space.
04:01The NASA-funded Atlas Survey Telescope, which made the discovery,
04:05is part of NASA's Planetary Defense Network.
04:08Our telescopes are always watching the skies to keep us safe.
04:12And in doing so, they occasionally make major scientifically interesting discoveries,
04:17just like this one.
04:18Right away, of course, NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office established,
04:24they studied it, and they established that 3-I Atlas is not a danger to Earth.
04:29In fact, it's at least twice as far away as the distance between the Earth and our Sun.
04:37On October 30th, the comet itself reached the closest it will ever be to the Sun
04:42when it crossed just inside Mars' orbit,
04:45which is why the image that Ahmet just showed,
04:48he noted it was the closest instrument physically to the comet
04:52because the comet was right inside the orbit of Mars.
04:55Earth was on the opposite side of the Sun,
04:58which is about as far away as our planet can possibly be from Mars.
05:03It's been clear from the moment of discovery
05:06that the comet was going to pass on the opposite side of the Sun
05:09from where the Earth is.
05:11However, it was also clear that its positioning behind the Sun
05:14was going to make observations from Earth very, very difficult.
05:17And that is why we are so happy to have our incredible fleet
05:21of NASA science spacecraft all across the solar system.
05:25And boy, were they ready for this event.
05:27NASA's science assets on board our missions
05:30have provided the United States the unique capability
05:33to observe 3-I Atlas almost the entire time
05:37it passes through our celestial neighborhood.
05:40Everything NASA's science does is interconnected.
05:43And nearly 20 mission teams have been working together
05:48to really rise to this challenge.
05:5020 mission teams, by the way, and counting.
05:52Everything we're learning about the comet is possible
05:55because of the distribution of all of the different instruments
05:58on our spacecraft with different capabilities.
06:01And I'll note that for some of them,
06:03we've even pushed our scientific instruments
06:06beyond their normal capabilities,
06:08beyond the things that they were designed to achieve
06:11to allow us to capture this amazing glimpse
06:14at this interstellar traveler.
06:17In other words, we can study this comet so well
06:20because we have many different assets in different locations
06:24observing things in different wavelengths,
06:27in different ways, with different instruments,
06:29each set of observations providing a different lens
06:32for understanding objects in the sky.
06:35So NASA's science team has kept watch on 3-I Atlas
06:38for nearly its entire journey through the solar system
06:41for the first time ever.
06:43So I'll just quickly go through the timeline
06:45of which NASA spacecraft have observed the comet thus far.
06:48And we're still going.
06:50There will be more opportunities to observe this comet
06:53as it continues its journey through the solar system,
06:55passing the orbit of Jupiter in spring of 2026.
07:01So the NASA assets that are gathering observations
07:03of 3-I Atlas include Hubble,
07:06the James Webb Space Telescope,
07:08TESS, Swift, Spheerex, Perseverance Mars Rover,
07:13Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,
07:15MAVEN, Europa Clipper,
07:17Lucy, Psyche, personal favorite Parker Solar Probe,
07:21Punch, Stereo, and ESA, NASA's Soho mission.
07:25And I'll note that Parker Solar Probe's data
07:27were just downloaded yesterday,
07:28and indeed, we did catch several glimpses
07:31of this amazing comet.
07:33The scientific community is hard at work
07:35analyzing these images,
07:37and everyone, as always, is welcome to take a look.
07:41At NASA, we embrace open science.
07:43We make all of our data available to the public 24-7,
07:46and we invite, in fact, we really want you
07:49to tell us what you're observing
07:51and what you think about what we're looking at.
07:54We're still learning, even about what questions
07:56we still need to ask,
07:58and this, of course, is the scientific process in action.
08:02All the data go to a public archive.
08:04We get those images as soon as we're able to
08:07from all of our eyes in space.
08:10As always, I am excited to see what new things
08:13we learn about our friendly solar system visitor
08:15in the days and, in fact, the years to come.
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