NASA’s SPHEREx Examines Comet 3I/ATLAS’s Coma
4 Feb 2026, 00:00 GMT
Topic: Photojournal
Source URL: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/nasas-spherex-examines-comet-3i-atlass-coma/
Description These observations by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) show the infrared light emitted by the dust, water, organic molecules, and carbon dioxide contained within comet 3I/ATLAS’s coma. The comet brightened significantly during the December 2025 period when SPHEREx made the observations — about two