Though 3I/ATLAS will never come close to Earth, its passage offers a rare chance to study material beyond our solar system with ground-based and orbital telescopes, before it accelerates back into deep space . For the latest and best from Chron, sign up for our daily newsletter here.

NASA telescopes in Chile have discovered a comet from interstellar space, making its closest approach in October.

The object gained an official name, C/2025 N1 or 3I/ATLAS, on Wednesday. Moving at a record-setting speed for an interstellar visitor, it is travelling along a curve but not in a closed loop – confirmation of its origins outside the Solar System. It will zoom past our Sun without being captured by its gravity.