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Related papers: Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS: discovery and physica…

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Interstellar objects provide a unique view into the formation of other star systems. Here we present spectroscopic observations of the recently discovered interstellar object 3I/ATLAS between a heliocentric distance of $3.7$ to $1.8$~au on…

China's Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter successfully imaged the third interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, during its close encounter with Mars using the onboard HiRIC CMOS camera. This is China's first deep-space observation of an astronomical object.…

We present high angular resolution observations of the third known interstellar interloper, 3I/ATLAS, from the Hubble Space Telescope. The object is clearly active at 3.8 au pre-perihelion, showing dust emitted from the hot Sun-facing side…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-08-21 David Jewitt , Man-To Hui , Max Mutchler , Yoonyoung Kim , Jessica Agarwal

The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS (also C/2025 N1 (ATLAS), henceforth, 3I), discovered by the ATLAS Chile telescope on 2025 July 1, was rapidly revealed to be the third known interstellar object (ISO) transiting the solar system, with an…

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has been approaching its 2025 October 29 perihelion while opposite the Sun from Earth, hindering ground-based optical observations over the preceding month. However, this geometry placed the comet within the…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-02-03 Qicheng Zhang , Karl Battams

We identified a new ultra-distant comet C/2019 E3 (ATLAS) exhibiting preperihelion cometary activity at heliocentric distances $\gtrsim\!20$ au, making it the fourth member of this population after C/2010 U3 (Boattini), C/2014 UN$_{271}$…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-01-10 Man-To Hui , Robert Weryk , Marco Micheli , Zhong Huang , Richard Wainscoat

3I/ATLAS was discovered on UT 2025 July 1 and joins a limited but growing population of detected $\sim10^2-10^3$ m scale interstellar objects. In this paper we report photometric observations of 3I/ATLAS from the nights of UT 2025 July 3,…

We report the detection of the nucleus of interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, using a nucleus extraction technique on Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations taken between December 2025 and January 2026. The product of the V-band geometric…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-02-16 Man-To Hui , David Jewitt , Max J. Mutchler , Jessica Agarwal , Yoonyoung Kim

We present observations of the detection of a faint high-latitude jet in the inner coma of comet 3I/ATLAS that coincides with the broad plume detected in visible images along PA $280 \pm 10^{\circ}$. A detailed analysis shows that the jet…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-12-16 M. Serra-Ricart , J. Licandro , M. R. Alarcon

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) exhibits an unusual, tightly collimated dust feature in the sunward hemisphere which has been widely described as an anti-tail. At the same time, precise constraints on the nucleus size have been…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-12-30 Toni Scarmato

The environs of other stellar systems may be directly probed by analyzing the cometary activity of interstellar objects. The recently discovered interstellar object 3I/ATLAS was the subject of an intensive worldwide follow-up campaign in…

Interstellar objects are the ejected building blocks of other solar systems. As such, they enable the acquisition of otherwise inaccessible information about nascent extrasolar systems. The discovery of the third interstellar object,…

Interstellar objects (ISOs) provide unique insights into the building blocks and conditions of extrasolar planetary systems. The newly discovered object, 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1), represents the third known ISO after 1I/'Oumuamua and…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-08-08 Thomas H. Puzia , Rohan Rahatgaonkar , Juan Pablo Carvajal , Prasanta K. Nayak , Baltasar Luco

We present high-resolution optical spectroscopy of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) obtained with the High Dispersion Spectrograph mounted on the Subaru Telescope on UT 2026 January 7, when the comet was on its outbound trajectory at…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-03-27 Yoshiharu Shinnaka , Ko Tsujimoto , Hideyo Kawakita , Hitomi Kobayashi , Jun-ichi Watanabe , Takafumi Ootsubo

Interstellar comets provide rare opportunities for probing the diversity of refractory and volatile inventory around other stars. As the second ever interstellar comet, and the third interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS has been the focus of…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-03-04 Juncen Li , Xian Shi , Man-To Hui , Jianchun Shi

3I/ATLAS, also known as C/2025 N$_1$ (ATLAS), is the third interstellar object (ISO) discovered in July 2025. ISOs are particularly interesting because characterizing their physical properties helps us understand and test our knowledge of…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-08-13 Jin Beniyama

A previous study suggests that the observed exponential character of the surface brightness profiles in the coma around the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS at 4 au can be explained as a consequence of the destruction of the icy scattering…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-05-08 Eric Keto , Abraham Loeb

3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed interstellar object to visit our Solar System, and only the second to display a clear coma. Infrared spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) provides the opportunity to measure its coma…

Comet C/2025 N1 or 3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed interstellar object. It has passed perihelion on 2025 October 29, and is currently on a path to leave the solar system. During its outbound journey, it will pass close to Jupiter at a…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-01-28 Goldy Ahuja , Shashikiran Ganesh

We present time-series medium-band (R~20-40) observations of the third interstellar object 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) obtained with the 7-Dimensional Telescope (7DT), enabling spatially resolved monitoring of its gas and dust activity from 2025…