See It For Yourself: Your Chance To See Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Livestreamed This Week

You will soon have the opportunity to see interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS for yourself, as it is observed live by the Virtual Telescope Project this week. 

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As you are probably aware by now, this year has brought our third interstellar visitor that we know of. On July 1, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) detected an object zipping through our neck of the galaxy. It was soon confirmed to be an interstellar object, one that did not come from the Solar System. 

With the world's telescopes soon turned towards it, it was found to be a comet, exhibiting distinct cometary behavior. That's not to say it isn't interesting. We are talking about an object which may be from another part of the galaxy entirely, a time capsule from another age of the universe which has traveled alone, perhaps for 10 billion years. Studying it could tell us about the environment where it started its journey, and maybe even the journey it took to us through the interstellar medium.

There has been plenty of nonsense written about the object, such as the (unlikely and unnecessary) hypothesis that it could be an alien spacecraft. For some, unfortunately, no amount of reassurance from NASA, SETI, the astronomical community as a whole, or even SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will convince them of its true cometary nature. Nor will the many photos showing its clear cometary behavior, including an ion and dust tail.

But for anyone who would be convinced if they could see it for themselves, or for people who would like to see an awesome natural object while it briefly resides in our Solar System, the Virtual Telescope Project has a real treat for you this week. On Wednesday, November 19, at 4:15 am UTC (Tuesday, November 18 at 11:15 pm EST), they will be livestreaming our interstellar visitor. 

"The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (aka C/2025 N1 ATLAS) is one of the most interesting astronomical objects ever discovered. Once again, the Virtual Telescope Project is doing something unique: sharing an exceptional event with the community worldwide," the Virtual Telescope Project announced ahead of the live stream.

"On 19 Nov. 2025, starting at 04:15 UTC, we will show you the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS live, sharing real-time images captured via our robotic telescopes in Manciano, Italy. Join this opportunity from the comfort of your home!"

Though we already have plenty of photos of the object (several from orbiters around Mars!), there's nothing quite like sitting down with a telescope and looking at it for yourself. Now that 3I/ATLAS is back from behind the Sun from our perspective, you can do that with your own telescope if you would like to. But for those of us not lucky enough to have clear skies and our own telescopes, the Virtual Telescope Project will bring views of the object to the masses live on their website. Tune in, it should be pretty special.