New Image of 3I/ATLAS Reveals A Long, Rigid Structured Sunward-Facing Jet That’s Pointing The Wrong Way – And Staying There

This is where Avi Loeb’s recent analysis becomes critical—not as speculation, but as a testable physical framework.

Loeb begins with conservative assumptions. He treats 3I/ATLAS as a natural comet composed of rock and ice. He uses mass-loss rates measured by the James Webb Space Telescope prior to perihelion, then scales them upward to account for increased activity afterward. He assumes a gas outflow speed of roughly 200 meters per second, which corresponds to the thermal speed of carbon dioxide molecules sublimating from a sunlit surface at about 200 Kelvin. These are not extreme numbers; they are intentionally cautious.

From these inputs, one can calculate how the density of gas in a jet declines with distance. As the gas expands, it thins rapidly—falling off with the square of the distance from the source. Meanwhile, the solar wind, moving at roughly 500 kilometers per second, applies a relentless opposing pressure. When the pressure of the solar wind equals the pressure of the outflowing gas, the gas can no longer continue sunward.