Scientists left baffled after mysterious object grows a tail towards the Sun
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An interstellar visitor has been traveling through our solar system for a few months, and now researchers are baffled to find out it has grown a tail towards the sun. The more we learn about the visiting comet, the more questions emerge as 3I/ATLAS is showing traits that have never been displayed before in a comet. So, what is going on? (Picture: International Gemini Observatory)
In August, the Keck II telescope in Hawaii observed an object, when it seemed that the comet’s tail was pointing towards the Sun. The reason why this is weird is because comet tails are typically pushed away from the Sun by solar radiation and wind (Picture: Nasa)
Harvard professor Dr Avi Loeb weighed in. In a recent paper, a team of astronomers used the Keck data to confirm what Dr Loeb wrote in a blogpost – a ‘previously reported cyanide and nickel outgassing’ which are being emitted both in and against the direction of the Sun, and offering a ‘clear evidence for an anti-tail’ (Picture: NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI))
He added: ‘Most remarkably, the white light image of 3I/ATLAS does not show evidence for a familiar cometary tail, as expected for dust which scatters sunlight and is pushed away from the Sun by solar radiation pressure. The above data adds new anomalies to the classification of 3I/ATLAS as a familiar comet. The more data we get about 3I/ATLAS, the more it looks like an outlier’ (Picture: David Jewitt/NASA/ESA/Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI))
However, there are a few reasons why this phenomenon may occur. One reason is that it could be an optical illusion. According to Earth’s position in space, a comet’s wide tail can fan out from behind it to make it look as if it has something extending from either side. Another possibility is that the larger grains of dust may be refusing to be pushed away by solar wind in the comet’s Sun-facing side, and its core could be spinning rapidly and releasing large pieces of debris in both directions. This would make it seem that there is a sunward anti-tail to its regular tail (Picture: ATLAS/University of Hawaii/NASA)
University of California, Los Angeles, planetary astronomer Michael Busch said in a post on Bluesky: ‘With a rotating comet nucleus… ejecta from a spot can come off with heliocentric velocity that puts it either in front of or behind the nucleus. It does not matter which side it starts from. Small dust and ejected gas gets pushed out by radiation pressure and solar wind. But larger pieces of ejecta spread out along the orbit; both in front of and behind the nucleus’ (Picture: ESO/O. Hainaut)
3I/ATLAS was first spotted in our solar system in July, and since then has been providing astronomers with clues about life outside our solar system, as it was the third time ever an interstellar object has come into our solar system. However, researchers have had many theories about the comet, including it being an alien probe to spy on Earth, as well as a seed to create new planets. However, it’s expected to make a close approach to Jupiter next month, which will allow Nasa’s Juno spacecraft and the European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft a chance to get a brief glimpse of it (Picture: AP)
