By Samuel Lopez | USA Herald – Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS did not behave like a routine comet drifting through the Sun’s domain. From the moment it was detected, it challenged expectations—its speed, trajectory, composition, and anomalous activity marking it as something fundamentally different from native solar system debris.
Unlike long-period comets bound loosely to the Sun, 3I/ATLAS arrived on a hyperbolic path, confirming an origin beyond our solar system. But what set it apart was not merely where it came from—it was how it behaved once it got here. Observations revealed persistent, sun-facing activity, including a rare anti-tail and structured jets that appeared to fluctuate on a repeating timescale. These are not hallmarks of a quiet, inert traveler.
Chemical signatures deepened the mystery. Emissions consistent with volatile compounds—some rarely observed at such levels—suggested a body formed in a radically different stellar environment. Its activity persisted at distances where solar heating alone struggles to explain the observed outgassing, raising questions about internal composition, thermal properties, or non-standard mechanisms driving its behavior.
