A brilliant comet waved its tail above the site of the world's largest telescope as it lit up the night sky last month.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) soared through the starry skies above the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Paranal Observatory in Chile, home to the Very Large Telescope and future site of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), which is currently under construction. When completed, the ELT will be the world's largest telescope capable of observing the cosmos in visible light.

Veteran comet hunters have called G3 (ATLAS) the "Great Comet of 2025" due to its daytime visibility and spectacular nighttime sightings. In these gorgeous photos from the Paranal Observatory, it's not hard to see why.