Tag Archives: Trace

During its closest approach to Mars on October 3, 2025, 3I/ATLAS was 30 million km away from ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO).This image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was captured on October 3, 2025 by the CaSSIS instrument aboard ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter. Image credit: ESA / TGO / CaSSIS.TGO captured the new images of 3I/ATLAS with its Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS). “This was a very challenging observation for the instrument,” said Dr. Nick Thomas, principal investigator of the CaSSIS instrument at ESA. “3I/ATLAS is the slightly fuzzy white dot moving downwards near the center of the images.” “This dot is the center of the comet, comprising its icy-rocky nucleus and its surrounding coma.” “CaSSIS could not distinguish the nucleus from the coma, because 3I/ATLAS was too far away.” “The angular resolution of the CaSSIS camera...