NASA's Webb Telescope Reveals Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Has Surprising Chemical Composition
Summary
NASA's Webb Space Telescope has analyzed the chemical composition of 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar comet, revealing a surprising chemical makeup that differs significantly from comets in our own solar system. The comet contains high levels of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide but very little water ice, suggesting it formed in a planetary system with different conditions than our own. This discovery raises questions about how common or unusual our solar system's conditions may be across the galaxy.
Source
Twitter / XNASA's Webb Telescope Reveals Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Has Surprising Chemical Compositionnews.stsci.eduKey quotes
· 3 pulledThe third identified interstellar comet in human history has a surprising chemical makeup, raising questions as to how common, or unusual, conditions in our own solar system may be.
Billions of years ago in a nascent planetary system somewhere in the Milky Way galaxy, the icy fragment now known as 3I/ATLAS was getting knocked around as larger planets formed.
Powerful gravitational interactions eventually catapulted it out of the system.
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