NASA's New SPHEREx Mission Observes Interstellar Comet
NASA/SPHEREx
NASA's SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Aug. 7 to Aug. 15. The SPHEREx team has been analyzing insights from this data, and a research note is available online. The agency's SPHEREx is one of NASA's space telescopes observing this comet, together providing more information about its size, physical properties, and chemical makeup. For example, NASA's Webb and Hubble space telescopes also recently observed the comet. While the comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA's space telescopes help support the agency's ongoing mission to find, track, and better understand solar system objects.
NASA/SPHEREx
Alise Fisher
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
Abbey Interrante
August 25, 2025CategoriesCometsSPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) More from Comet 3I/ATLASNext PostNASA's Webb Space Telescope Observes Interstellar CometAugust 25, 2025