The European Southern Observatory has released a selection of incredible images showing Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) in the sky above its dark-sky site.
ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Dessert, Chile, is one of the best places in the world for stargazing and astronomy, providing scientists across the globe with the ability to explore and learn more about the Universe.
It's one of the most famous dark-sky sites in the world: a place far from light pollution and radio interference where astronomers can get uninterrupted views of the night sky.
That made it the perfect place to observe and photograph Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), which was visible in the Southern Hemisphere skies throughout January 2025.
Comets orbit the Sun, some returning to our skies relatively regularly, and others taking several thousand years to make a reappearance.
C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) reached perihelion — the point in its orbit when it's closest to the Sun — on 13 January 2025.
It was just 13 million kilometres away from our star at that point, and is now moving away from Earth.
Comets are like cosmic snowballs made of rock, dust and ice
As they approach the Sun, solar heat causes ice to sublimate into a gas which, along with the release of dust particles, produces a huge tail that trails behind a comet.
Just like the one visible in these amazing images.
Did you manage to capture an image of the comet? Let us know by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com
