The Missing Inner Coma Tells the Real Story
Perhaps the most consequential limitation of the NASA image is what it does not show.
At the time of its release, the inner 10,000 to 30,000 kilometers around the nucleus were unresolved. That region is now understood to be critical. It is where the structured jets originate, where rotational stability becomes evident, and where the object’s true physical behavior diverges from standard comet models.
Any visualization that omits this region is no longer describing 3I/ATLAS as it is currently understood.
Hydrogen Is No Longer the Primary Diagnostic
Early interpretations elevated hydrogen as the key tracer of activity. That emphasis has shifted.
Later observations indicate the presence of fine dust grains, on the order of ten microns, forming a coma that sits near the threshold between transparency and opacity. This dust can partially block sunlight, altering thermal dynamics and photochemistry near the nucleus.
In that context, hydrogen emission may be secondary, shaped by dust-driven processes rather than direct sublimation alone. The original image does not account for this interplay.
