A scientist has discovered anomalous particles in the anti-tail of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS

Abnormally large particles have been detected in the anti-tail of the 3I/ATLAS interstellar object. This was announced on December 26 by Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist and professor at Harvard University, in his blog.

"The observed length of the anti-tail generated by 3I/ATLAS can only be supported by particles with a radius significantly larger than the size of ordinary dust particles, which have the largest surface area per unit mass for scattering sunlight and usually dominate the glow around the comets of the Solar System," he wrote.

According to Loeb's data, in order for particles in the solar direction to reach the observed jet length of 400,000 km, their radius must be greater than 1 micron. At the same time, it cannot exceed 100 microns, so that the particles are dispersed by the gas flow from the sublimation of ice. Such requirements are met for a natural comet, but not for an exotic source like rocket exhaust, which could give particles an arbitrary velocity.

The astrophysicist notes that the strong collimation of the anti-tail may be the result of the ejection of large particles from a very small surface area of the core. Spectroscopic measurements of the jet's Doppler shift are needed to further refine the characteristics.

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On November 19, Loeb stated in an interview with Izvestia that 3I/ATLAS may be of artificial origin. The Harvard University professor clarified that the composition of the gas plume consists of 87% carbon dioxide, which is atypical for comets, and nickel was found in the emissions with almost no iron impurities, which is typical for industrial alloys.

On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin jokingly called the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS a "Russian secret weapon," while emphasizing that Russia opposes the deployment of weapons in space. He explained that 3I/ATLAS is a comet of extragalactic origin, from another galaxy, so it behaves differently than comets originating from the Solar System.

On December 18, Loeb reported a new anomaly in the 3I/ATLAS object. The new phenomenon can be explained by the fact that the axis of rotation of the 3I/ATLAS core will be aligned with the direction of the Sun with an accuracy of up to eight degrees with a small probability when the interstellar object approaches the Sun at five times the distance from Earth.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.