Prepare to be amazed! An interstellar comet, 3I/ATLAS, a celestial wanderer from beyond our solar system, has been beautifully captured by a photographer, Osama Fathi, over Egypt's Black Desert. This isn't just any comet; it's a visitor from another star system, making its fleeting journey through our cosmic neighborhood.
Following its passage behind the Sun in the autumn of 2025, 3I/ATLAS is now gracing the winter night sky, offering a stunning spectacle for those with a telescope. Even amateur astronomers can get a good look at this celestial marvel. Many are turning to smart telescopes to instantly hone in on and capture beautiful images of the comet.
This comet is unique because it originated outside our Solar System, making its temporary visit all the more special. It has been observed by various space-based instruments, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA solar missions, and even Mars spacecraft, along with a European probe on its way to Jupiter.
Osama Fathi's terrestrial capture of comet 3I/ATLAS provides a unique perspective. He photographed the comet against the backdrop of Egypt's Black Desert, where volcanic hills and acacia trees stand in silent contrast to the night sky. Fathi describes the scene as the comet's faint green glow slipping between the desert trees, a visitor older than our Sun, passing through the Solar System only once before returning to interstellar space. The comet's subtle cyan hue is due to faint cyanide radical gas emission in its coma, a chemical fingerprint shared with distant comets, but arriving here from a planetary system we will never see.
But here's where it gets interesting: The image was taken using an astro-modified Nikon Z6 camera paired with a RedCat telescope lens, pushed to 3× optical zoom, achieving an effective focal length of about 750mm. The scene was stacked from 60 exposures of 60 seconds at ISO 1500, then 60 exposures of 30 seconds. This allowed the comet's delicate coma and motion against the background stars to emerge clearly, even under the extremely dark Saharan skies. The photograph was taken on the night of November 29, 2025, beginning around 03:00 in complete desert silence.
If you're inspired to capture 3I/ATLAS yourself, you can find guides to help you photograph a comet.
What do you think? Does this make you want to try astrophotography? Let us know in the comments if you've ever captured a comet or if you're planning to try! You can also check out more of Fathi's work on his Instagram profile @osama.fathi.nsw. And, if you have your own astrophotos, send them in!
