On 19 December 2025, interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will at long last make its closest approach to Earth. This event, along with the days before and after, represents the final and best opportunity for ground-based observatories (and human comet-hunters) to capture and study the object as it makes its way back out of the Solar System.

Comet Lemmon was discovered in January 2025 and made its closest approach to Earth in late October 2025. But by November 2025, when this image was taken, it had brightened to about the same apparent brightness as the planet Uranus, making it visible to the naked eye even from suburban skies.