3I/ATLAS: The Third Interstellar Visitor from an Ancient Galaxy
About this episode
A quick dive into the latest interstellar visitor—its speed, origin, and chemistry. 3I/Atlas arrived on a hyperbolic path with eccentricity 6.137 and a hyperbolic excess velocity of 58 km/s, likely originating from the Milky Way’s thick disk and possibly 7.6–14 billion years old. JWST and SPHERICS reveal a CO2-rich, comet-like composition (with water, CO, CN, and even nickel vapor), making it a natural relic rather than alien tech. We unpack what this ancient messenger tells us about distant star systems and what future interstellar wanderers might reveal.
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