Content overview: “Webb Telescope Finds Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Shares Ice Makeup with Outer Solar System”. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered striking similarities between the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS and icy bodies in the outer reaches of our own solar system. A study led by the Southwest Research Institute examined ice grains streaming from the comet—only the third object from beyond ou
A study led by the Southwest Research Institute examined ice grains streaming from the comet—only the third object from beyond our solar system ever identified—and found they consist of tiny aggregates of water ice and dust, each about a micron or smaller. This composition closely mirrors that of comets and trans-Neptunian objects orbiting far beyond Neptune, suggesting that the processes that shaped our solar system’s distant icy worlds may be common across the galaxy. This listing links straight to the original page, where the content is available in full.