NASA’s TESS spacecraft recently captured observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it left the solar system, recording it as a bright, fast-moving dot with a faint tail across a crowded starfield.

A 28-hour video compiled from the data shows the comet’s trajectory, though a spacecraft “safe mode” caused a gap in the observations.

Scientists hope the dataset will reveal the comet’s activity, dust and gas emissions, and rotation rate.

TESS, designed to find exoplanets, proved useful for tracking nearby objects like comets, even capturing 3I/ATLAS before its official discovery in May 2025, Space.com has reported.

The January observations are now publicly available, offering researchers a chance to study the comet in detail and uncover repeating brightness patterns that may reveal more about this interstellar visitor.