The European Space Agency’s JUICE captured stunning images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using its JANUS camera, showing a glowing coma and a long tail of gas and dust.

3I/ATLAS is only the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system, having originated around another star before drifting into our cosmic neighborhood.

The comet’s coma is a cloud of gas and dust released as sunlight heats its icy nucleus, with its tail shaped by solar radiation and wind.

JUICE observed the comet with five instruments in November 2025, collecting images and spectrometry data from 41 million miles away, Space.com has reported.

Data transmission was slow because JUICE was on the far side of the sun, and scientists are now analyzing the results ahead of a meeting in late March to discuss their findings.