The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has unexpectedly changed — photo

 As the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS moved through the solar system, it demonstrated significant changes in the shape and emission of the ice that makes up the comet. Infrared observations revealed how different substances are distributed around its nucleus.

IFLScience reports on this.

What changes has comet 3I/ATLAS undergone?

Data on 3I/ATLAS was collected by the SPHEREx space telescope during observations in August and December of last year. The analysis of these measurements was published on the preprint server arXiv.

SPHEREx can detect objects in 102 "colors" of the infrared spectrum, enabling researchers to track the shape and emission of ice in the comet. This ice consists of various molecules, including water, nitrides, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide.

The overall distribution of these substances in the images is fairly spherical, with a round halo visible around the nucleus. Meanwhile, the distribution of hydrocarbons was different, being less spherical with slight "flattening."

The dust structure was the most asymmetrical. The dust forms the anti-tail, a rare additional tail that occurs when a comet ejects large, heavy particles. Due to their size, these particles move differently than other ejected material.

The scientists emphasized that this is not a complete analysis of the December data. However, it already shows how much 3I/ATLAS changed during its passage through the solar system.

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