Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) Gleams Above Cerro Pachón

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) gleams against the January sky above three NOIRLab-supported telescopes in this Image of the Week. This is the first time that humans have observed this comet, which was last visible from Earth about 600,000 years ago. At perihelion, this comet reached an apparent magnitude of -3.8. This is about the same brightness as Venus, on the right side of the image, and potentially makes it the brightest comet of 2025. The straight lines across the sky are satellites, more prominently visible in this close-up.

This image was taken atop Cerro Pachón, in the foothills of the Chilean Andes, next to the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR), a part of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab. In the distance are two other observatories supported by NSF NOIRLab (left to right): Gemini South, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, funded in part by the NSF and operated by NSF NOIRLab, and the upcoming NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the NSF and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science.