"'During the total lunar eclipse, we captured a detailed image of Comet 3I/ATLAS from the dark skies of Namibia,' astronomer Michael Jäger shared."
"'By combining multiple exposures in blue, green, and red light, we were able to clearly see the comet's gas-rich coma.'"
"Harvard physicist Avi Loeb shared the Austrian team's developments in his latest blog post, suggesting the transformation from red to green-blue colors was due to the steep rise in the production of cyanide (CN), as reported by the Very Large Telescope on August 25, which found that 3I/ATLAS is emitting CN at 20 grams per second. As 3I/ATLAS got closer to the sun, it released much more cyanide and nickel (without any iron), with the amount increasing very sharply, roughly following a pattern proportional to the ninth power of its distance from the sun, explained Loeb."
Austrian astronomers imaged interstellar object 3I/ATLAS on September 7 and recorded a color shift from red to green using combined blue, green, and red exposures that revealed a gas-rich coma. ATLAS telescope data showed the coma expanded faster when the object was farther from the sun and slowed as it approached, attributed to a transition from scattering by red dust to release of small, bright icy particles. The Very Large Telescope measured cyanide (CN) emission at about 20 grams per second. Cyanide and nickel output rose sharply with decreasing distance, roughly following a ninth-power dependence. The object will make its closest approach of 168 million miles on December 19, 2025. One proposal labels 3I/ATLAS an alien probe, citing large size, extreme brightness, and an apparent missing tail, while imaging nonetheless showed a visible coma.
Read at Mail Online
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