3I, NASA and Comet
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They also noted that iron was not detected alongside the nickel, an uncommon pattern in comets. Rahatgaonkar and Seligman suggested that the nickel may be locked in molecules that break apart easily under sunlight, releasing the metal at low temperatures.
Astronomers observe 3I/ATLAS's tail flip toward and away from the Sun, sparking debate over natural causes or possible artificial control.
"If the object is an alien spacecraft slowing down, and the anti-tail is braking thrust, then this change from anti-tail to tail would be entirely expected near perihelion," Avi Loeb wrote, but there is a better explanation.
Live Science on MSN
Superbright 'Comet Lemmon' gets its tail temporarily torn to pieces by solar wind
An astrophotographer snapped a stunning shot of Comet Lemmon's flowing tail getting shredded by a strong gust of solar wind, just three days before it reaches its closest point to Earth.
While no spacecraft is near enough to fly through 3I/ATLAS’s dust tail, Europa Clipper may find itself in the path of the comet’s ion tail, a possibility made clear by the pair’s computer model, Tailcatcher.
Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is this year’s brightest comet visible from Earth—an icy relic from the solar system’s origins that won’t return until the next millennium.
The solar wind is a constant flow of charged particles emitted by the Sun. It pushes against a comet’s tail, which is formed from dust and gas escaping its icy nucleus.
A rare green Hallowe’en comet will be visible in the night sky over the next few weeks before it vanishes for 1,300 years.
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