It is not often that NASA and ISRO find themselves staring at the same mysterious traveller drifting through our solar system. But this month, telescopes from Earth to Mars turned toward a cold wanderer from deep space, Comet 3I/ATLAS, only the third confirmed interstellar object ever seen by humanity.

The moment felt almost cinematic: two space agencies thousands of kilometres apart watching the same glowing stranger who does not belong to our Sun, our planets or our cosmic neighbourhood.

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And because this comet will never return, scientists everywhere know this is a chance that comes once in a lifetime.

ISRO’s silent triumph

Far away from the noise of cities, at Mount Abu, ISRO-affiliated scientists at India’s Physical Research Laboratory pointed their 1.2-metre telesco

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