Webb Finds Dust-Rich Water Ice in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Oct 26, 2026 - 14:45

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Webb Finds Dust-Rich Water Ice in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Protopapa et al. used Webb to compare the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS with icy bodies in our Solar System; the comparison offers clues to the early formation of planetary building blocks; at top right, both 3I/ATLAS and the icy solar system comet C/2024 E1 show a strong water-ice absorption band near 3 microns, but the interstellar comet has very weak or missing bands near 1.5 and 2.0 microns; its spectrum more closely resembles the average spectrum of a class of icy worlds beyond Neptune whose spectra also show carbon dioxide ice and organics (bottom right); the artist’s concept (left, not to scale) compares the relatively pure ice grains with separate dust, as interpreted for most solar system comets, with the dust-rich ice aggregates the study inferred for 3I/ATLAS. Image credit: SwRI / Silvia Protopapa / NASA / ESA / CSA / JWST.

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have found that the water ice in the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is mixed with dark, rocky material in tiny grains.

The post Webb Finds Dust-Rich Water Ice in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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