Why Metal Vapor Is So Weird
Imagine you’re watching smoke rise from a candle. Normally, all the smoke drifts upward at roughly the same speed. But what if one type of smoke stayed tight around the flame while another type spread across the room? That would tell you something different is happening to create those two kinds of smoke.
That’s essentially what scientists are seeing with 3I/ATLAS. The nickel vapor appears in a tight cloud near the objects core, while cyanide spreads much farther out. This size difference—about 154 miles—means the nickel must be coming from parent molecules that break apart incredibly quickly.
“The nickel emission is more centrally concentrated in the nucleus” the study reports, which “favors hypotheses involving easily dissociated species such as metal carbonyls.”
Translation: The nickel probably isn’t just sitting on the object’s surface as pure metal. Instead, it’s likely locked inside fragile chemical compounds that sunlight rips apart in seconds or minutes. Once freed, the nickel atoms glow as they absorb and re-emit sunlight, creating the signature scientists detect.
