Interstellar Visitor 3I/ATLAS: Fresh Photos Reveal Huge 'Stream' Aimed at Our Star

A fresh image from the Gemini Observatory displays comet 3I/ATLAS (backdrop) alongside the new Two-meter Twin Telescope picture highlighting the comet’s emission (inset).(Image credit: Comet photograph: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the ScientistImage Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab); Inset: Teide Observatory, M. Serra-Ricart, Light Bridges)

Recently unveiled visuals of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS seem to illustrate the space object ejecting a massive plume of gas and particles towards our sun — exactly as comets are anticipated to behave.

First sighted in late June and verified by NASA in early July, the comet hails from a still-unknown stellar system far outside our own. 3I/ATLAS is just the third interstellar body ever documented. Spanning approximately 3 to 7 miles (5 to 11 kilometers) across, it holds the title of the largest interstellar object to traverse our region, and is possibly the most ancient, conceivably predating the sun’s origin by billions of years.

These and other anomalies have prompted a small contingent of scientists to suggest, controversially, that the object could be an extraterrestrial vessel dispatched to observe us. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of researchers affirm that 3I/ATLAS is simply a swift-moving comet acting in line with established cometary patterns. The new images of the cosmic intruder, taken on Aug. 2 via the Two-meter Twin Telescope (TTT) located at the Teide Observatory in Spain’s Canary Islands, offer additional substantiation for the object’s purely natural characteristics.

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By combining 159 exposures, each spanning 50 seconds, the resulting image depicts the icy core (or nucleus) of 3I/ATLAS as a large, shadowy speck enveloped by a white luminescence. A sudden, fan-shaped interruption in this radiant halo pinpoints where researchers believe a substantial, high-velocity discharge of matter (denoted in purple) is emanating from the comet directed at the sun. This image was distributed via The Astronomer’s Telegram, a transient object surveillance platform, on Oct. 15, but awaits official release in a peer-reviewed journal.

The assembled picture of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS reveals the newly spotted stream (purple line) aimed toward the sun. The yellow line indicates the anti-solar path, and the blue line denotes the comet’s velocity vector.

Comets are renowned for their vibrant tails of ionized gases, with the longest extending for hundreds of millions of miles away from the sun. Conversely, comet streams are substantially smaller and tend to be oriented toward the sun. Although a plume of dust pointed directly at our star might seem unusual, it’s simply a standard component of a comet’s configuration, as Miquel Serra-Ricart, an astrophysicist and chief science officer at the Teide Observatory’s Light Bridges research facility, communicated to Live Science via email.

“This is commonplace,” Serra-Ricart, the individual who shared the recent images, confirmed to Live Science. “Ejections are directed toward the sun, and the comet’s tail extends in the anti-solar direction.”

The underlying reason is that comets invariably warm as they move closer to the sun — albeit, not consistently. The sun-exposed part of the comet heats up quickest, and should a specific vulnerable point on its exterior reach a sufficient temperature, the increasing abundance of sublimated gases can erupt like a geyser, expelling cometary substance thousands of miles toward the sun.

These images from the Hubble Space Telescope of comet NEOWISE depict a fan-shaped emission spurting from the comet’s nucleus post its solar rendezvous in 2020.

As the comet’s nucleus spins, its emission can take a fan-like appearance, mirroring what is seen in the new TTT image, Serra-Ricart added. The notable naked-eye comet NEOWISE similarly displayed fan-shaped ejections subsequent to its closest approach to the sun in 2020, as revealed by observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.

A portion of this ejected material integrates into the comet’s coma (the shining halo surrounding the nucleus), while the remainder may be forced into the comet’s tail by the pressure of radiation from the constant bombardment of solar wind. Therefore, comets can simultaneously showcase both a sun-oriented emission and an anti-sunward tail — without any need for alien engineering.