The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that two of its spacecraft stationed on Mars have successfully photographed the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. These images represent the closest perspective the agency will attain of the elusive object.

An interstellar comet, originating from a distant and previously unknown star system, is currently undertaking an extensive tour of our inner solar system. The celestial visitor recently made its closest approach to Mars on Friday, October 3, and is slated for a near encounter with the sun on October 30. During its close flyby of the Red Planet, the comet came within the observational range of a fleet of robotic explorers operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, including ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Mars Express orbiter.

Despite soaring a vast 18.6 million miles (30 million kilometers) above Mars, a comet proved too faint for the Mars Express orbiter to successfully image. Fortunately, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) managed to capture a series of photographs of the distant celestial body. The European Space Agency (ESA) subsequently compiled these images into an animated GIF. This compelling animation reveals the comet as a fuzzy, bright dot, distinctly moving towards the center of the frame as it rapidly receded from Mars at an estimated speed of 130,000 mph (210,000 km/h).