Check Out the Best Photo Yet of a Visiting Comet

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the best picture yet of a high-speed comet visiting our solar system from another star, with NASA and the European Space Agency releasing the latest photos on Thursday, reports the AP. Discovered last month by a telescope in Chile, the comet known as 3I-Atlas is only the third known interstellar object to pass our way and poses no threat to Earth. Astronomers originally estimated the size of its icy core at several miles across, but Hubble's observations have narrowed it down to no more than 3.5 miles. It could even be as small as 1,000 feet, according to scientists.

The comet is hurtling our way at 130,000mph, but it will veer closer to Mars than Earth, keeping a safe distance from both. It was 277 million miles away when photographed by Hubble a couple of weeks ago. The orbiting telescope revealed a teardrop-shaped plume of dust around the nucleus, as well as traces of a dusty tail. CNN notes that the comet should remain visible to telescopes on Earth through September. It will then approach the sun and disappear for a bit, before subsequently reemerging sometime in early December.