"And intriguingly, according to images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the object isn't just growing one tail - it's also sprouting a separate "anti-tail," pointing in the direction of the Sun,as Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb suggests in a new, yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper. "The anti-tail is an extension of the glow of scattered sunlight around 3I/ATLAS towards the Sun and not away from it - as typically the case for comets," Loeb explained in a new blog post. "This anomalous anti-tail, not a result of geometric perspective, had never been reported before for solar system comets.""
"Loeb and fellow Harvard astrophysicist Eric Keto suggest this anti-tail could be the result of ice fragments being shed from 3I/ATLAS' surface instead of "refractory dust particles as previously assumed." This strange new appendage "represents an extension of the snow line, or survival distance of a sublimating ice grain, in the direction of the Sun," Loeb suggests. The researchers determined that while most of 3I/ATLAS' mass is made up of carbon dioxide, the "longest-surviving grains are mostly made of water (H2O) ice, which evaporates more slowly than carbon dioxide.""
Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is traveling through the solar system and is broadly identified as a comet composed of ice and dust. The object is increasing in activity as it nears the Sun, shedding gases and dust that form a growing tail and an anomalous anti-tail pointing toward the Sun. Hubble images show the anti-tail and analyses attribute it to ice fragments shed from the object's surface rather than refractory dust, representing an extension of the snow line toward the Sun. Modeling indicates most mass is carbon dioxide while the longest-surviving grains are mostly water ice, which evaporates more slowly.
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