The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has locked its gaze on 3I/ATLAS, a newly discovered interstellar comet speeding through our solar system — the third object of its kind ever detected, following the famous 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.

First spotted on July 1, 2025, by the ATLAS survey in Chile, 3I/ATLAS has stunned astronomers with its unusual brightness and enormous 24-kilometer-wide coma of gas and dust. Unlike ʻOumuamua, which baffled scientists with its cigar-like shape and lack of a visible tail, 3I/ATLAS is clearly active, venting water vapor, ice grains, and organic-rich dust into space.

JWST’s powerful infrared instruments have now confirmed the comet’s composition includes water and complex carbon-based materials, suggesting it may have originated in a planetary system rich in volatile ices — much like the outer regions of our own solar system.

Moving at a staggering 130,000 miles per hour, 3I/ATLAS is on a hyperbolic trajectory that will fling it back into interstellar space after its close approach to the Sun on October 29–30, 2025. Scientists stress the urgency of studying it before it disappears forever.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said one NASA astronomer. “Every interstellar object carries the fingerprints of another star system. 3I/ATLAS gives us a direct sample of materials born beyond the Sun.”

Already dubbed the “new ʻOumuamua,” 3I/ATLAS may finally help answer questions raised by its mysterious predecessor. With JWST, Hubble, and ground-based observatories all targeting the comet in a global observing campaign, astronomers hope to uncover whether such visitors are rare cosmic accidents — or a regular feature of galactic traffic.

One thing is certain: 3I/ATLAS is only pᴀssing through. Once it leaves, humanity may wait decades before another messenger from the stars arrives.