Comet 31/ATLAS has become one of the most closely watched interstellar objects in history—and the ESA (European Space Agency) is now playing a pivotal role in tracking its path.
In the first week of October, ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter delivered an extraordinary leap in trajectory accuracy, offering scientists a rare opportunity to study a cosmic traveler that will never return.
ESA Tracking Comet 31/ATLAS
Astronomers first spotted the faint object on July 1, 2025, designating it 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed interstellar visitor ever detected in our Solar System. As ESA explains in its update, the comet is “on a one-way journey… swinging around the Sun once, then heading back out into deep space.”
🔗 Learn more from the European Space Agency: ESA Official Site
Interstellar objects like Comet 31/ATLAS move with extreme velocity—up to 155,000 mph (250,000 km/h). At that speed, the comet could travel from Earth to the Moon in only a few hours, meaning astronomers must be precise in their tracking to capture meaningful data.
ESAs ExoMars Orbiter Changes the Game
Until October, scientists relied solely on Earth-based telescopes to monitor the comet’s direction, brightness, and speed. However, that changed dramatically between October 1 and 7, when ESA aimed the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, which is usually used to study the Martian atmosphere, toward the fast-moving object.
