'Will vanish for 500,000 years': Scientists capture final glimpse of the ‘Great Comet of 2025’
Produced by Tarun Mishra
Produced by Tarun Mishra
Scientists have captured the final images of Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), also known as the ‘Great Comet of 2025,’ before it leaves the inner solar system for approximately 500,000 years.
The comet was last observed in the night sky over Chile, where it appeared as a bright celestial object. It was visible to observers in the Southern Hemisphere before and after perihelion, while Northern Hemisphere viewers had a brief daytime view around its closest approach to the Sun.
Initially discovered on 5 April 2024 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), this non-periodic comet reached peak brightness at magnitude -3.8 on 13 January 2025. It briefly outshone most celestial objects, making it the brightest comet expected to be visible from Earth this year.
At perihelion, Comet C/2024 G3 was just 13 million kilometres from the Sun, well within Mercury’s orbit. Long-term orbital calculations suggest it will not return for another 600,000 years if it survives its journey beyond the solar system.
Following perihelion, the comet exhibited signs of breaking apart, but it continued to display bright twin tails. As it moves towards the outer solar system, its brightness has faded beyond magnitude 8, making it extremely faint.
Astrophysicist César Briceño captured high-resolution images of the comet from Andacollo, Chile, using a mirrorless DSLR camera with an 85mm lens. The composite photograph, created from multiple 30-second exposures, highlights the comet’s dust and ion tails against a star-filled sky.
The images reveal a bright coma surrounding the nucleus, with two distinct tails. The dust tail, made of heavier particles, reflects sunlight, while the ion tail glows due to ionisation by the solar wind. The comet’s structure changed as it neared the Sun, with its icy core vaporising into gas, forming its characteristic shape.
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