JWST Finds Ancient, Cold Origins for Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Webb’s NIRSpec study of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS reveals unusually high deuterium and low carbon-13, suggesting the it formed in a very cold, early region of the galaxy roughly 10–12 billion years ago outside our Solar System. The isotopic signatures imply formation in a dense, frozen cloud and hint that the ingredients for chemistry—and possibly life—could exist in distant stellar nurseries. The findings, published in Nature, are complemented by an ESO/VLT analysis of cyanide isotopes.