Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Carries Fossil Clues From a Distant Disk
TL;DR Summary
New isotope measurements from JWST and the VLT corroborate that interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS formed billions of years ago far from its parent star, likely in the outer regions of a protoplanetary disk (akin to a Kuiper belt) and was later ejected into interstellar space. Its carbon-12 to carbon-13 and nitrogen-14 to nitrogen-15 ratios differ markedly from solar-system comets, suggesting a birth environment and chemistry unlike our own. The findings were published in Nature Astronomy.
- More clues surface about the origins of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Space
- High nitrogen and carbon isotopic ratios in the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Nature
- Older than the Sun: Astronomers find new clues to the origin of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS ESO.org
- Comet may be 12bn-year-old relic from distant star system The Times
- Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Likely Originated in Outskirts of Ancient Planetary System Sci.News
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