How do we know 3I/ATLAS, also called comet C/2025 N1 (ATLAS), is interstellar? Will it strike Earth? Can we visit it? Here are all of your questions answered.

Late in the evening on July 1, a telescope in Chile that is part of the global, NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) picked up on a new moving dot in the sky, an object traveling past the orbit of Jupiter.

NASA has discovered a new interstellar comet that's currently located about 420 million miles away from Earth. The space agency spotted the quick-moving object with the Atlas telescope in Chile on Tuesday and confirmed it was a comet from another star system. The new interstellar comet's official name is 3I/ATLAS.