"Astronomers spotted 3I/ATLAS in July and the Minor Planet Center noted its "highly eccentric, hyperbolic orbit" that suggested it came from outside our solar system. Later analysis confirmed that theory, making 3I/Atlas just the third such object humanity has ever observed, after the 2017 discovery of 1I/Oumuamua and 2020's 2I/Borisov. Interest in such objects is naturally high so NASA used the Hubble Space Telescope to check it out in July."
"The quality of that image is excusable: The CNSA and ESA both explained that they designed their Mars orbiters to observe the Red Planet, not small, dim, distant, and fast-moving targets like 3I/Atlas. The CNSA's post outlines the difficulties associated with snapping 3I/Atlas by pointing out that it moves at approximately 58 kilometers per second, making its relative velocity compared to Tianwen-1 86 kilometers per second. The interstellar object is also small - probably just 5.6 kilometers in diameter - and dim."
3I/ATLAS is an interstellar comet discovered in July that follows a highly eccentric, hyperbolic orbit indicating it originated outside the solar system. Later analysis confirmed it as the third observed interstellar object after 1I/Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. NASA observed the comet with Hubble in July. ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Mars Express observed the comet in early October when it passed about 30 million km from Mars, providing closer vantage points. CNSA's Tianwen-1 orbiter also imaged the comet despite instruments tuned for Mars. Observations indicate the comet is small (around 5.6 km), dim, moves tens of km/s relative to spacecraft, appears distinctly bluer than the Sun, and brightened approaching perihelion.
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