Juice Spacecraft Captures First Images of Active Comet 3I/ATLAS
PARIS – ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) has returned its first images of comet 3I/ATLAS, revealing a glowing coma and potential tails, despite utilizing a navigation camera not designed for detailed scientific observation. The images were taken on November 2, 2025, two days before Juice’s closest approach to the comet at approximately 66 million km.
Juice employed five science instruments during the observation to gather data on the comet’s behavior and composition. While the full data set from these instruments – JANUS, MAJIS, UVS, SWI, and PEP – is expected to arrive on Earth on February 18 and 20, 2026, a preliminary download of a quarter of a single image from the spacecraft’s Navigation Camera (NavCam) yielded a surprising result.
The NavCam image clearly shows the comet’s coma, a halo of gas surrounding the nucleus, and hints at both a plasma tail (electrically charged gas extending towards the top of the frame) and a fainter dust tail (tiny solid particles stretching to the lower left).
Currently, Juice is utilizing its high-gain antenna as a heat shield against the Sun, limiting data transmission to a slower rate via its medium-gain antenna, so the delay in receiving the full scientific data.
The observation occured after 3I/ATLAS’s closest approach to the Sun, meaning the comet was in a especially active state – more active than when observed by ESA’s Mars orbiters in October. Scientists anticipate the data from the science instruments will reveal even clearer signs of this activity, including detailed images from JANUS and spectrometry and composition data from MAJIS, UVS, SWI, and PEP.
Further updates and frequently asked questions are available at esa.int/3IATLAS. An annotated version of the image is available for download here.
