Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) Gleams above Cerro Pachón in Chile

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) Gleams above Cerro Pachón in Chile

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) gleams against the sky above three NOIRLab-supported telescopes in this image. The straight lines across the sky are satellites. This image was taken atop Cerro Pachón, in the foothills of the Chilean Andes, next to the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR), a part of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab. In the distance are two other observatories supported by NSF NOIRLab (left to right): Gemini South, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, funded in part by the NSF and operated by NSF NOIRLab, and the upcoming NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the NSF and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science.

C/2024 G3 ATLAS is a non-periodic comet. It reached perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on January 13, 2025, at a distance of 0.09 AU (13 million km) from the Sun. It is potentially the brightest comet of 2025, with an apparent magnitude reaching −3.8 on the day of its perihelion.

Comet C/2024 G3 was found by the automated Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on April 5, 2024, in images obtained with a 0.5-m reflector telescope located in Río Hurtado, Chile. ATLAS is funded by NASA's Planetary Defense Office. ATLAS was developed and is operated by the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy.

Learn more:
https://fallingstar.com
https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-defense-overview/

Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/C. Corco
Release Date: Jan. 29, 2025

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