New Hubble Data Adds Another Layer To The 3I/ATLAS Story—And It’s Not A Subtle One

But the anomaly reveals itself when the scale is reduced.

At distances closer to the nucleus—on the order of 20,000 to 25,000 kilometers—the structure changes. Processed frames show three distinct inner jets, separated by angles close to 120 degrees. These features are not static. They rotate over time in a coherent pattern, consistent with the rotation of the nucleus. What stands out is not simply their presence, but their geometry. A near-perfect division of a full circle into thirds is not what irregular sublimation typically produces.

In standard comet models, jets arise from localized pockets of volatile material exposed unevenly to sunlight. Such activity is usually messy. Jet strength fluctuates, angles drift irregularly, and symmetry—when it appears—is fleeting. In the case of 3I/ATLAS, the symmetry persists long enough to be measured and tracked.

The reported ~16-hour rotation period of the object can plausibly explain the short-term evolution of the smaller jets. Material traveling at a few tenths of a kilometer per second can change its appearance over half a rotation. That explanation holds—up to a point.