According to NASA, more than 20 missions have been coordinated to monitor the comet at different stages of its journey, including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Hubble, and even Mars-based orbiters. This coordinated effort underscores the scientific importance of the event.
The Mystery of the Anti-Tail
One of the most intriguing features of 31/ATLAS is its rare sun-facing “anti-tail,” observed stretching up to 620,000 miles. Between August 3 and August 29, 2025, astronomers using the Two-Meter Twin Telescope in Tenerife recorded wobbling jets that rotated every 7 hours and 45 minutes, implying a nucleus rotation period of about 15.5 hours.
“This combination of precession and uneven outgassing points to structural asymmetries we have never seen before in an interstellar comet,” researchers noted in findings summarized by USA Herald.
Exotic Chemistry from Another Star System
Spectral analysis from JWST revealed an unusually high carbon dioxide–to–water vapor ratio, among the highest ever recorded in any comet. Scientists suggest this means 31/ATLAS either formed near the CO₂ ice line of its original protoplanetary disk or was heavily processed by cosmic radiation over billions of years.
