Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS: Activity, Observations, and Swarm Hypothesis
Recent observations and studies of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS reveal active phenomena and ongoing monitoring by NASA and other space agencies. Comet 3I/ATLAS, discovered in summer 2025, has shown activity in its coma, notably a teardrop shape extending towards the Sun, observed through Hubble Space Telescope images taken in July and November 2025. The comet exhibits a small non-gravitational acceleration, approximately 0.0002 of solar gravity, which scales inversely with the square of its heliocentric distance, suggesting a response similar to a reduced solar mass effect. A hypothesis proposes that 3I/ATLAS may be surrounded by a swarm of non-evaporating objects that do not share its non-gravitational acceleration, causing them to be closer to the Sun and forming an anti-tail pointing sunward. This swarm could significantly contribute to the comet’s coma, reflecting most of the sunlight, consistent with Hubble’s imaging data. The estimated displacement of these objects from the comet is about 54,000 km, corresponding to a 0.7 arcminute separation, matching the observed anti-tail extent. The ongoing observations aim to understand whether these objects are rocky fragments or other materials. The study of such a swarm could shed light on the composition and behavior of interstellar objects passing through our solar system, offering insights into their origins and the nature of objects from outside our solar system.
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