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

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Cometary activity from interstellar objects provides a unique window into the environs of other stellar systems. We report blue-sensitive integral field unit spectroscopy of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS from the Keck-II-mounted Keck…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-12-16 W. B. Hoogendam , B. J. Shappee , J. J. Wray , B. Yang , K. J. Meech , C. Ashall , D. D. Desai , K. Hart , J. T. Hinkle , A. Hoffman , E. M. Hu , D. O. Jones , K. Medler , C. Pfeffer

Time-domain photometric monitoring is essential for characterizing cometary evolution, particularly for rare interstellar objects with limited observing opportunities. We aimed to characterize the pre-perihelion photometric behavior and…

We present optical and near-infrared spectroscopy of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, obtained with Gemini-S/GMOS and NASA IRTF/SpeX on 2025 July 5 and July 14. The optical spectrum shows a red slope of approximately 10% per 1000 angstroms…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-09-22 Bin Yang , Karen J. Meech , Michael Connelley , Ruining Zhao , Jacqueline V. Keane

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS displayed a small but statistically significant non-gravitational acceleration during its passage through the inner Solar System. Using a thermophysical model coupled with stochastic sampling of jet…

General Physics · Physics 2025-12-30 Florian Neukart

HATPI is a recently commissioned time-domain facility at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, that uses 64 wide-angle, 9.6 cm diameter lenses and back-illuminated CCDs, yielding a mosaic field-of-view of 7,100 square arcdegrees, observing the…

We present independent polarimetric observations of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, including the first near-infrared polarimetric measurements. Using imaging polarimeters, we measured the degree of linear polarization from the visible RC…

We report a survey of molecular emission from cometary volatiles using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) toward interstellar object 3I/ATLAS carried out on UT 2025 December 22 and 23 at a heliocentric distance ($r_H$) of $2.37-2.41$ au.…

3I/ATLAS, also known as C2025 N1 (ATLAS), is the third known macroscopic interstellar object to pass through our Solar System. We report serendipitous Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) observations of 3I/ATLAS taken between…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-12-02 Jorge Martinez-Palomera , Amy Tuson , Christina Hedges , Jessie Dotson , Thomas Barclay , Brian Powell

3I/ATLAS is only the second confirmed cometary object known to enter the Solar System from interstellar space. Cosmogonic considerations suggest that this body may possess relatively high tensile strength and a substantial metal fraction.…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-11-26 Josep M. Trigo-Rodríguez , Maria Gritsevich , Jürgen Blum

We report the detection of HCN ($J=3-2$) rotational emission from comet 3I/ATLAS at a heliocentric distance of 2.13 AU with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). Observations were conducted from 07 August 2025 and 14 September 2025 (UT)…

Interstellar objects provide a unique opportunity to further our understanding of the planetary formation process by studying in detail material formed around another star. Their ices contain precious clues about the environment and…

We point out that on 22 January 2026, the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS will align to within an exceptionally small angle, alpha= 0.69 degrees, with the Earth-Sun axis. This rare alignment provides unique circumstances for measuring the…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-01-14 Mauro Barbieri , Abraham Loeb

Interstellar objects (ISOs), particularly those with cometary activity, provide unique insight into the primordial physical and chemical conditions present during the formation of the planetary system in which they originated. Observations…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-01-13 Jason T. Hinkle , Bin Yang , Karen J. Meech , Andrew Hoffman , Benjamin J. Shappee , W. B. Hoogendam , James J. Wray

In this study, the dust loss of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is investigated through the analysis of archival images. By measuring the surface brightness profile of the coma, we determined that the comet maintained nearly in a steady…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-07-22 Bin Liu , Man-To Hui , Xiaodong Liu

We present the first spectroscopic characterization of an interstellar object at mid-infrared wavelengths. Post-perihelion observations of 3I/ATLAS using the JWST/MIRI medium-resolution spectrometer were obtained on 2025 December 15--16 and…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-04-13 Matthew Belyakov , Ian Wong , Bryce T. Bolin , M. Ryleigh Davis , Steven J. Bromley , Carey M. Lisse , Michael E. Brown

2I/Borisov is the first-ever observed interstellar comet (and the second detected interstellar object). It was discovered on 30 August 2019 and has a heliocentric orbital eccentricity of ~ 3.35, corresponding to a hyperbolic orbit that is…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-02-12 Hsing Wen Lin , Chien-Hsiu Lee , David W. Gerdes , Fred C. Adams , Juliette Becker , Kevin Napier , Larissa Markwardt

In this work we will create the Secular Light Curve (SLC) of exocomet 3I/ATLAS, using the SLC-Methodology (Ferrin 2010-2023). The SLCs give a throve of new information and allow the comparison of exo-comets with comets of our own solar…

Emission lines of FeI and NiI are commonly found in the coma of Solar System comets, even at large heliocentric distances. These atoms are most likely released from the surface of the comet's nucleus or from a short-lived parent. These…

Interstellar objects provide the only directly observable samples of icy planetesimals formed around other stars, and can therefore provide insight into the diversity of physical and chemical conditions occurring during exoplanet formation.…

3I/ATLAS is the third known interstellar object to pass through our Solar System. NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) made dedicated observations of 3I/ATLAS between 15 -- 22 January 2026 (Sector 1751), capturing…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-02-16 Jorge Martinez-Palomera , Amy Tuson , TESS Science Support Center