Posted on 10/10/2025 9:17:10 AM PDT by Red Badger
3I/ATLAS, as seen by the Gemini South observatory in August 2025 (Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the Scientist).
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Physicists have detected water activity during observations of the mysterious comet 3I/ATLAS, marking the first time hydroxyl gas, a chemical signature of water, has been detected from the interstellar visitor.
Using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the Auburn University team determined 3I/ATLAS is releasing water at a rate of roughly 40 kilograms per second, comparable to a fire hose running at full blast, while positioned nearly three times farther from the Sun than Earth.
What makes this finding particularly remarkable is the distance at which this activity was observed: 2.90 astronomical units, well beyond the region where most solar system comets show any significant signs of such activity.
“When we detect water—or even its faint ultraviolet echo, OH—from an interstellar comet, we’re reading a note from another planetary system,” explained Dennis Bodewits, professor of physics at Auburn University and principal investigator of the study, in a press release. “It tells us that the ingredients for life’s chemistry are not unique to our own.”
NASA’s Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS during two visits in July and August 2025. The panels show visible-light (left) and ultraviolet (right) images, where the faint glow of water vapor escaping from the comet. (Image: Dennis Bodewits, Auburn University)
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According to their paper, the scientists used ultraviolet light to detect water molecules coming off the comet. The team found that there is a specific signal water gives off as it breaks apart in space, and the water the comet was releasing grew significantly between late July and mid-August 2025.
To make this discovery, they relied on NASA’s Swift telescope, which orbits high above Earth. Even though Swift only has a 12-inch mirror, it can see ultraviolet light much better than telescopes on the ground because it’s beyond our atmosphere, which normally blocks most ultraviolet light from reaching telescopes on the surface. From its location in space, Swift has the same power as a much larger 13-foot telescope would have on Earth for this type of observation.
Since its discovery on July 1, 2025, by the NASA-funded ATLAS survey telescope in Chile, 3I/ATLAS has consistently defied expectations. Previous research reported by The Debrief has revealed that this interstellar visitor is “anomalously massive” compared to its predecessors, with recent studies suggesting a minimum nucleus diameter of roughly five kilometers and a mass of at least 33 billion tons.
This extraordinary size places 3I/ATLAS several orders of magnitude more massive than the first two known interstellar objects, 1I/’Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. As Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb noted in previous correspondence with The Debrief, “We should have detected an order of 100,000 ‘Oumuamuas before discovering an object as big as 3I/ATLAS”.
Hubble Telescope image of the mysterious interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (Image Credit: ESA/Hubble).
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The comet’s massive nature helps explain its ability to maintain course despite significant outgassing activity. Unlike smaller objects that would be deflected by gas jets from their sun-facing surfaces, 3I/ATLAS has shown remarkable orbital stability, with non-gravitational acceleration measured at less than 15 meters per day squared.
The discovery of water emanating from the comet only adds to its complexity and mystique.
Rather than simple nuclear sublimation, the research suggests water production originates from extended sources, most likely large icy grains in the comet’s coma that sublimate as they’re heated by sunlight. This mechanism, observed in only a handful of distant comets, points to complex, layered ice structures that preserve their ancient formation clues.
The water detection adds another chapter to the evolving story of interstellar objects in our solar system. As lead researcher Zexi Xing noted, “Every interstellar comet so far has been a surprise. ‘Oumuamua was dry, Borisov was rich in carbon monoxide, and now ATLAS is giving up water at a distance where we didn’t expect it.”
“Each one is rewriting what we thought we knew about how planets and comets form around stars,” Xing said.
Moreover, recent observations by ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter during 3I/ATLAS’s close approach to Mars provided additional imaging opportunities. While the challenging observation conditions highlighted the technical difficulties of studying these rare visitors, it was still considered a unique opportunity to use the orbiter for something outside of its mission parameters.
“Though our Mars orbiters continue to make impressive contributions to Mars science,” ESA project scientist Colin Wilson said at the time. “It’s always extra exciting to see them responding to unexpected situations like this one.”
3I/ATLAS will become observable again after mid-November 2025, offering additional opportunities to track its evolution as it approaches perihelion on October 30. The comet’s trajectory will take it within 1.4 astronomical units of the Sun, just inside Mars’s orbit, before it exits our solar system forever, traveling at a speedy 130,000 miles per hour.
The discovery has profound implications for our understanding of planetary system formation across the galaxy. The presence of water activity in an interstellar comet demonstrates that the basic chemical ingredients for life are not unique to our solar system. Moreover, the complex ice structures indicated by extended water sources preserve information about formation conditions in distant stellar environments billions of years ago.
As 3I/ATLAS continues on its journey through our solar system, astronomers worldwide are seizing this rare opportunity to study material that has drifted through interstellar space for potentially billions of years. Each observation brings new insights into the diversity of planetary systems and the cosmic processes that shape the building blocks of life throughout our galaxy.
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MJ Banias covers space, security, and technology with The Debrief. You can email him at mj@thedebrief.org or follow him on Twitter @mjbanias.
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You daily dose of Ping!.........................
It’s whizzing on our solar system. What an insult!
The ingredients in my pantry never seem to randomly mix together to create a dish. I’ll keep watching though.
Aliens flushing their septic tank in an interstellar RV.
Where does all that water go? It doesn’t just hang around................
Good Lord!
They are hoping so hard that this is an Aline ship that will deliver them from Orange Man and his tyranny.
Hope harder fools.
It’s space rock, FFS.
“Aline” s/b Alien
That happened in a movie once, “Spaced Invaders”...........
BRAVE AI:
“Spaced Invaders” is a 1990 American science fiction comedy film directed by Patrick Read Johnson, starring Douglas Barr, Royal Dano, and Ariana Richards.
The film’s title is a pun on the classic video game Space Invaders.
The plot centers on a group of dim-witted Martians from the “Civilian Asteroid Patrol” who intercept a Halloween rebroadcast of Orson Welles’s 1938 “War of the Worlds” radio dramatization and mistakenly believe it signals a real invasion of Earth.
They crash-land in the small town of Big Bean, Illinois, on Halloween night, where the townspeople assume they are children in elaborate costumes.
The Martians, including the smart-mouthed pilot Blaznee, Captain Bipto, Lieutenant Giggywig, Dr. Ziplock, and Corporal Pez, attempt a clumsy invasion, leading to a series of comedic misadventures.
The film’s hero is ten-year-old Kathy Hoxly, played by Ariana Richards, who understands the aliens’ true nature due to her familiarity with science fiction.
She teams up with her father, Sheriff Sam Hoxly (Douglas Barr), her friend Brian (J.J. Anderson), and the elderly farmer Mr. Wrenchmuller (Royal Dano) to protect the Martians from a hostile townsfolk mob.
The sheriff discovers the aliens after his deputy records their ship traveling at 3,000 mph, leading to a humorous encounter where the deputy attempts to ticket them for various traffic violations.
The Martians’ attempts to destroy Earth, including a failed attempt with a “Doughnut Of Destruction,” ultimately fail, and they realize their mistake.
The film concludes with the Martians returning to space, leaving behind a gift of alien manure that rejuvenates the town’s farmland and transforms its green beans into giant pods.
The film was released on April 27, 1990, and has since gained a cult following despite mixed critical reception, with film critics like Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin giving it poor reviews.
A live-action television series was developed in 1997 but was never produced.
The film’s production involved elaborate alien costumes made of foam, latex, and fiberglass, with actors unable to see through the heads, requiring constant communication with the director via wireless headphones.
It keeps going in the direction it was ejected forever or until it interacts with some force.
Yup. Wake me when it changes course.
The rain from space falls mainly on this place.................
It was a B-flat. Not an A.
> Where does all that water go? It doesn’t just hang around................
One hypothesis is that the water on earth came from such comets.
Any indication of an ‘anti-ICE’ message on it yet?
I guess we will just have to send out an Ice Pusher to go out and harvest that stuff.
I looked it up and found out you can stream it for free on YouTube. And if you have a premium account, no commercials. Watching now...
I’d imagine that it’s moving above solar escape velocity, so practically all of it will fly right on out of the solar system along with the parent comet. Some water molecules might get slowed enough to stay behind.
Whatever you do, don’t show that to Commodore Decker.
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