3I/ATLAS Update: ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter's Close-Range Capture
The European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter collected high-resolution imaging and spectroscopic data of the 3I/ATLAS comet, also known as C/2025 P1 (ATLAS), as it passed its perihelion at roughly 1.35 to 1.40 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun.
The comet has become unobservable from Earth, hidden behind the Sun in a phase known as solar conjunction, but several spacecraft near Mars continued to track it, including the ExoMars TGO.
The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS has passed its closest point to the Sun at just over 200 million kilometres.
The ExoMars TGO's capture of close-range data offers scientists a rare opportunity to study the interstellar visitor within the Solar System.
Author's summary: ExoMars orbiter tracks 3I/ATLAS comet.