Archive: Hubble Observations of Interstellar Objects, August 21, 2025

A team of astronomers has taken the sharpest-ever picture of the third interstellar object, known as 3I/ATLAS and resembling a comet, traveling at 130,000 miles per hour within our solar system using the crisp vision of Hubble. This breathtaking sprint is evidence that the comet has been drifting through interstellar space for many billions of years. Observations will continue as it passes closest to the Sun in late October, and then it will leave the Solar System.

During this web seminar the presenter will share information about the three interstellar objects scientists have discovered roaming through our solar system within recent years, the techniques used to acquire the observations, and NASA’s plans for the search and discovery of similar objects.  

Note: The originally scheduled web seminar on August 21 titled “Amazing Monarch Butterflies” will be rescheduled at a later time. We apologize for the inconvenience.

All individuals receive a certificate of participation and 100 NSTA activity points for attending the live seminar and completing the end-of-program survey. A certificate of participation is not awarded for watching the recorded version of the program.

We invite you to register for upcoming web seminars at NSTA.

View the Archive Video

To view the presentation slides from the web seminar and related resources, visit the resource collection. Continue discussing this topic in the community forums.

Below are comments from individuals who attended the seminar:

  • "I found the images/slides and the explanations most interesting! I have limited knowledge of interstellar objects and this opened my eyes to a new area of amazement in our sky and solar system!"
  • "I SO appreciate being given the opportunity to gain knowledge in this field from an expert working directly in the area!!!"
  • "I teach chemistry and physics, both with earth and space science, and this topic is an excellent example of current discoveries in space, and it's exciting to me that we are having an interstellar visitor to our solar system!"

A certificate of attendance was deposited into participants' account page for completing the evaluation form at the end of the program.

For more information contact us.

Community Reviews

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Flavio Mendez
Flavio Mendez

Great information!

Enjoyed learning information about the interstellar object "in the news" from a Hubble Space Telescope scientist.

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