The interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS is coming near Earth this week and stargazers can see it before it vanishes into deep space

Comet 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar visitor, reaches its closest approach to Earth on Dec 19 at about 167 million miles - visible only with a strong telescope. Newsround speaks to an astrophysicist to find out all about it.

3I/ATLAS, however, is clearly outgassing, and its movements match what we'd expect from a comet. "Conclusion: 3I/ATLAS is exotic and wonderful. It is also a comet," wrote SpaceWeather.com.

Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS has grown a colossal, sunward anti-tail larger than the distance to the moon. Is this an unprecedented comet, or is Harvard's Avi Loeb right about a technological origin?

Now, Nasa and its European counterpart have released new images of 31/ATLAS ahead of its close encounter with Earth on December 19. The Hubble Space Telescope snapped the comet when it was about 178 million miles away from Earth on November 30.

Learn about the latest NASA and ESA images of Comet 3I/ATLAS, showing its brightness and tails of dust and plasma.

New images of 3I/Atlas have sparked viral claims that the rare interstellar object is falling apart as it nears Earth. Here is what the theory says and what science reveals about 3I/Atlas.

Studied by astronomers for a brief moment, the C/2025 K1 ATLAS comet was spotted by telescopes as it split, providing a unique opportunity for research.