New JWST results!
Our mid-infrared spectroscopic study of 3I/Atlas with James Webb Space Telescope has detected:
- Water, which is sublimating from both the comet’s nucleus and the grains.
- Carbon Dioxide, which is coming primarily off of the nucleus.
- Nickel, which comes from compounds like Ni(CO)4 breaking apart to release the metal.
- Methane! We are the first to report a detection. The fact that we did not see it before perihelion is interesting, as it implies that our current observations are probing a deeper subsurface layer than pre-perihelion.
The key information that we have learned from detecting methane is that 3I/Atlas is now releasing its sub-surface material, and that the ratio of methane/water in 3I is unusually high. 3I is unusually enriched in volatiles.
Images and Spectrum taken with the P200:
Some of the first images of the new Interstellar object 3I/Atlas taken using the Palomar 200 inch telescope using the guider camera of the Next Generation Palomar Spectrograph. My short RNAAS note on 3I/ATLAS: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.11720
