APOD: 2025 January 20 – Comet ATLAS Rounds the Sun

Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to this edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for January 20, 2025.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) was launched in 1995, and sits in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point L1 between the Earth and the Sun. As a result, SOHO can observe things we cannot see on Earth. One of those things this week was the comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS as it began its return around the Sun.

We had a dim glimpse of the comet last week (APOD from January 13th). SOHO gives us a better view. Based on what I am seeing on the APOD Facebook page, the images of C/2024 G3 ATLAS are more clear. I'll post a photo from Brazil in a separate comment below. Cheers.