NASA's HiRISE instrument, on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, captured the highest-resolution images of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passed Mars in October 2025. These images, which are expected to be released on November 19, 2025, are anticipated to be clearer than previous images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Why This Matters for 3I/ATLAS

The comet's nucleus is estimated at 1–5.6 km across, but the coma, dust cocoon, sunward anti-tail and any jets are extended features tens to hundreds of km in size. HiRISE's 30 km/pixel allows far clearer mapping of these structures — especially from the advantageous side-view geometry — than Hubble's blurrier, edge-on perspective in July. HiRISE is expected to be the sharpest view of 3I/ATLAS we've ever had, roughly three times higher resolution than the famous July Hubble images, with a much better angle on the comet's anomalous features