Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Puzzles Astronomers with Unexpected Size
Astronomers are reevaluatingโ current models of interstellar object populations following the discovery of โan unusually large comet, 3I/ATLAS, first observed on October 3. New observations suggest the comet’sโ nucleus is significantly larger than anticipated,raising questions โขabout the prevalence of similar objects.
the comet’s considerable size – estimated at approximately three miles in diameter – presents โคa challenge โto โคexisting theories. Ifโค comets like ‘Oumuamua are common,and โrepresent โฃthe smaller end of the interstellar โobject spectrum,scientists expected to haveโฃ detected many more thanโ just one object of 3I/ATLAS’s scale.
Avi Loeb, of Harvard & Smithsonianโข Center for Astrophysics, and hisโฃ colleagues propose โthat โcurrent understanding of planetary system debris โฃmay be incomplete. Upcoming observations โฃutilizing the HiRISE camera on NASA’sโ Mars Reconnaissance Orbiterโ and data gathered during a โขclose approach to jupiter by NASA’s Juno spacecraft โคin March, are โขexpected to provide โขfurtherโฃ insights into โthe comet’s surface area and characteristics.
“I can’t wait for this data!” Loeb toldโฃ The Debrief. “The way to tell the difference between a dogmatist and a curious scientist is by flooding them with data.”
The discovery of 3I/ATLAS challenges preconceptions aboutโ the types and quantities of โobjects inhabiting interstellar space. The team’s findings are detailed inโค their paper, “Upper limit on theโ Non-Gravitational Acceleration andโข Lower Limits on the Nucleusโฃ Mass and Diameter of โค3I/ATLAS,” โฃavailable online โขat https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/CLV.pdf.