Timelapse View of Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Visiting Our Solar System | ESO

Timelapse View of Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Visiting Our Solar System | ESO

The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has obtained new images of 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar object discovered last week. Identified as a comet, 3I/ATLAS is only the third visitor from outside the Solar System ever found, after 1I/ʻOumuamua and 2I/Borisov. Its highly eccentric hyperbolic orbit, unlike that of objects in the Solar System, gave away its interstellar origin. 

In this VLT timelapse, 3I/ATLAS is seen moving to the right over the course of about 13 minutes. These data were obtained with the FORS2 instrument on the VLT on the night of July 3, 2025, just two days after the comet was first discovered. The data were made immediately public through the ESO archive.

At the end of the video, we see all frames stacked into a single image: the deepest and best to date we have of this foreign object. However, this record will not hold for long as the comet is getting closer to Earth and becoming less faint. Currently more than 600 million kilometers away from the Sun, 3I/ATLAS is travelling towards the inner Solar System and is expected to make its closest approach to Earth in late October 2025. While 3I/ATLAS will be hiding behind the Sun at that point, it will become observable again in December 2025, as it makes its way back to interstellar space. 

Telescopes around the world, including the VLT, will continue to observe this rare celestial visitor for as long as they can, to find out more about its shape, its composition and its origin. What surprises will these observations reveal? Stay tuned! 

When discovered it was about 410 million miles (670 million kilometers) away from the Sun, within the orbit of Jupiter. Projected to pass near Mars and Jupiter, 3I/ATLAS is not expected to pass close to the Earth. The origin of Comet 3I/ATLAS remains unknown. Since this is the third interstellar object ever discovered, its name begins with the number 3 and the letter I. Comet 3I/ATLAS poses no known threat to Earth. Meanwhile, it provides a fascinating and rare opportunity for scientists to study these interstellar interlopers.

Credit: ESO/O. Hainaut
Duration: 15 seconds
Release Date: July 8, 2025

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