Paul Craggs Captures Stunning 3I/ATLAS Images With a $550 Smart Telescope

Amateur astrophotography has always been about passion outpacing equipment. But when Canadian astrophotographer Paul Craggs turned his budget-friendly smart telescope toward comet 3I/ATLAS in November 2025, the results stunned the astronomical community and made headlines around the world. His images — captured with a telescope costing just $550 — rivaled those released by professional observatories and drew analysis from one of Harvard's most prominent astrophysicists.

Who Is Paul Craggs?

Paul Craggs is a dedicated amateur astrophotographer based in Mallorytown, Ontario, Canada. He spends his clear nights capturing galaxies, auroras, comets, and deep-sky objects, sharing them freely with the public. His stated mission is to "make astrophotography more accessible to everyone" through educational outreach and community engagement.

While he may not have the institutional backing of major observatories, Craggs brings something equally valuable to the field: tireless dedication, creative problem-solving, and a genuine desire to inspire the next generation of space enthusiasts.

The Equipment: DWARFLAB Dwarf 3

What makes Craggs' achievement particularly remarkable is his equipment. The DWARFLAB Dwarf 3 is a portable smart telescope weighing roughly 3 pounds and costing approximately $550 USD. It features auto-tracking capability and an equatorial (EQ) mode that compensates for Earth's rotation — essential features for imaging faint, fast-moving targets like an interstellar comet.

The Dwarf 3 represents a new category of accessible astronomy tools. Rather than requiring years of experience with manual equatorial mounts, polar alignment procedures, and complex imaging software, smart telescopes like the Dwarf 3 automate much of the process while still delivering surprisingly capable results.

The Images That Went Viral

On November 22, 2025 — just days after NASA released its own images of 3I/ATLAS — Craggs shared three photographs of the interstellar comet on social media with a simple caption: "Captured 3I Atlas last night with my Dwarf 3."

The images immediately caught the attention of the astronomy community. They revealed:

• A bright, narrow white core surrounded by a smooth blue glow
• A compact, structured appearance that differed significantly from typical comet imagery
• An apparent absence of the conventional cometary tail, described by observers as "breaking the illusion of cometary tail and anti-tail"

Two days later, on November 24, Craggs posted follow-up observations: "3I Atlas this morning! Clouds rolled in so couldn't get more than a few pics with only 30 second exposure." Even with limited exposure time and deteriorating conditions, the images showed clear detail of the comet's inner coma.

Global Media Coverage

The images went viral almost immediately, picked up by major outlets including:

• International Business Times (US and UK editions): "Clearest Photo Yet of 3I/ATLAS Taken by Canadian Astrophotographer"
• Zee News India: Featured his images alongside expert astrophysicist analysis
• Mashable India: Analyzed the tail and anti-tail features visible in his captures
• All Day Astronomy: Prominently featured his work to their large astronomy audience

The coverage highlighted an extraordinary fact: an amateur with a sub-$600 telescope had produced images that, in some respects, appeared sharper than NASA's publicly released imagery of the same object.

Avi Loeb Weighs In

Perhaps the most significant recognition came from Professor Avi Loeb, the Harvard astrophysicist who had previously identified 13 anomalous characteristics of 3I/ATLAS that warranted further investigation. Loeb examined Craggs' images in a detailed blog post titled "Images of 3I/ATLAS on November 22–24, 2025".

Loeb noted that the comet's unusually elongated appearance might be due to motion smearing during the capture — a known artifact when imaging fast-moving objects with relatively short focal-length equipment like the Dwarf 3. This observation is an important nuance: while Craggs' images are genuinely impressive, some of their striking visual characteristics may be partially attributable to imaging artifacts rather than the comet's true physical structure.

This kind of interplay between amateur observations and professional analysis exemplifies the best of modern citizen science. Craggs provided the raw data; Loeb provided the interpretive framework. Together, they advanced public understanding of this extraordinary interstellar visitor.

Context: The Amateur 3I/ATLAS Effort

Craggs was far from alone in his pursuit of 3I/ATLAS. The comet inspired a global wave of amateur astrophotography:

• Stuart Atkinson (Kendal, Cumbria, UK) captured the comet on November 16, 2025 using a Seestar S50 smart telescope
• Satoru Murata used a 0.2m Celestron EdgeHD 800 to reveal three separate jets emanating from the nucleus
• Mitsunori Tsumura produced one of the finest amateur images with a 0.5-meter telescope on November 22
• Osama Fathi photographed 3I/ATLAS over Egypt's Black Desert using a Nikon Z6 and RedCat telescope lens

What sets Craggs' contribution apart is the accessibility factor. While many impressive amateur images required thousands of dollars in equipment, his results demonstrated that meaningful astronomical observation is possible with entry-level smart telescopes.

The Backyard Observatory Dream

Inspired by the response to his 3I/ATLAS images, Craggs launched a GoFundMe campaign titled "Build the Paul Craggs Backyard Observatory" with a goal of $1,600. The project aims to construct a permanent, weather-proof, automated backyard observatory for deep-sky astrophotography. The facility would support livestreaming sessions, educational content creation, and real-time celestial event tracking.

In his campaign, Craggs expressed his vision: he wants to create "something bigger — something others can benefit from, learn from, and be inspired by."

Lessons for Aspiring Astrophotographers

Craggs' 3I/ATLAS success story offers several takeaways for anyone interested in comet astrophotography:

1. Start with what you have. A $550 smart telescope can produce genuinely remarkable results. The best equipment is the equipment you actually use.

2. Timing matters more than gear. Craggs was observing at the right time, when 3I/ATLAS was still relatively bright and well-positioned. Knowing when to observe is as important as knowing how.

3. Share your work. Posting images on social media connected Craggs with a global audience and even attracted the attention of leading researchers. Citizen science thrives on open sharing.

4. Understand your limitations. As Avi Loeb's analysis showed, understanding imaging artifacts (like motion smearing) is crucial for interpreting results accurately. Every telescope has trade-offs.

5. Persistence pays off. Even when clouds rolled in on November 24, Craggs kept shooting with 30-second exposures and still captured useful data.

What's Next

As 3I/ATLAS continues its journey out of our solar system — now fading past magnitude 16 and beyond the reach of most amateur equipment — the window for citizen-science observations is closing. But the legacy of contributions from photographers like Paul Craggs will endure in the scientific record.

For those hoping to follow in Craggs' footsteps, the next great target is always just around the corner. Whether it is a periodic comet return, a near-Earth asteroid flyby, or perhaps the next interstellar visitor, the tools have never been more accessible. A passion for the night sky and a willingness to brave the cold are still the most important pieces of equipment.

Track 3I/ATLAS in real time on our Orbit page and find optimal viewing conditions on our Observing page.