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**Headline: Spacecraft to Observe Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS During Peak Activity**
**By [Your Name Here – or credit Victoria Corless/Space.com]**
International efforts are underway to study interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it makes its journey through our solar system. Discovered in July 2025 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Chile, 3I/ATLAS is only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our cosmic neighborhood. Its trajectory, speed, and lack of closed orbit around the Sun confirmed its extrasolar origin.
Astronomers face a challenge: the comet will only be visible from Earth-based telescopes until September 2025, before disappearing behind the sun. To overcome this hurdle, the European Space Agency (ESA), and NASA, along with others, are leveraging existing spacecraft already in orbit around Mars and Jupiter to observe the comet from unique vantage points.
ESA’s Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter will be the first to observe 3I/ATLAS in early October. NASA’s Psyche mission, en route to an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, will also take a look. The most crucial observations will be conducted by ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) around the time of the comet’s perihelion – its closest approach to the Sun – in November. This is when solar heating will cause 3I/ATLAS to become most active, releasing gas and dust.
Scientists hope that by observing the comet’s composition during this active phase, they can determine its chemical makeup and compare it to comets formed within our own solar system. This comparison will offer valuable insights into whether planetary systems share common building blocks or if 3I/ATLAS contains exotic materials from a distant star system. The data gathered from 3I/ATLAS’s peak activity holds the key to unlocking the mysteries surrounding interstellar comets.
First Piper 