The first scientific balloon flight happened on Dec. 16, 2025.
3I/ATLAS has now made its closest approach to the sun and Earth and is now heading back out toward the outer solar system.
For one, it came down to timing.
A rare interstellar comet has been caught in X-rays by two space telescopes, revealing how its gases interact with charged particles from the sun as it travels through the inner solar system.
NASA JPL pinpoints the moment the interstellar visitor passes closest to our planet.
The HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter just notched a big milestone, snapping its 100,000th photo of the Red Planet.
The livestream will now begin Friday at 11 p.m. EST, Dec. 19 (0400 GMT on Dec. 20), weather permitting, after rain prevented a broadcast on Thursday night.
Friday, Dec. 19, 2025: Your daily feed for the holiday flyby of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS by Earth.
Dr. Larry Denneau of the University of Hawaii is nothing like your typical astronomer.
New measurements demonstrate that smoke particles in the upper atmosphere are twice the size of lower-altitude ones.