Interstellar Comet Baffles Scientists With Chemistry Never Seen Before
Astronomers are piecing together a clearer picture of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, in terms of its age and chemical makeup. New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) imply that it formed in a very different environment from comets born near the Sun.
The most unique finding is 3I/ATLAS' chemistry. Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph revealed that the water vapor spewing from 3I/ATLAS contains an exceptionally high concentration of deuterium, or heavy hydrogen. Measuring roughly 30 times higher than levels found in local comets, this extreme ratio proves the object spent its formative years trapped in a deeply frozen state below minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
For this heavy water ice to survive completely unaltered, the comet must have been cast into the deep chill of interstellar space almost immediately after its birth, never experiencing the long-term stellar warmth that would have reprocessed its chemistry. Meanwhile, the comet's carbon composition provides a deeper...
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