Astronomer Loeb: A new anomaly has been detected in the cloud surrounding the comet 3I/ATLAS.
A new anomaly has been detected in the cloud surrounding the intruding comet 3I/ATLAS, sometimes referred to as a spaceship. Astronomer Avi Loeb reports this in his blog on Medium here.
"Notably, there is an absence of traces of microscopic dust particles that would enhance the blue color through Rayleigh scattering," the specialist wrote.
The astronomer noted that small particles, under the influence of solar radiation pressure, would have formed a typical comet tail extending away from the sun. Instead, according to Loeb, the cloud around 3I/ATLAS is formed by relatively large dust particles, which is why the comet lacks a typical tail.
Previously, Loeb noted that 3I/ATLAS is heading towards the Jupiter system.
Astronomers first reported on 3I/ATLAS in July, noticing the celestial body within the orbit of the gas giant.
The parameters of its trajectory indicate that 3I/ATLAS originated outside the Solar System. Most likely, the object is a comet with a core diameter of up to 20 kilometers. 3I/ATLAS has become the third interstellar object in the Solar System discovered by astronomers.
