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

Loeb outlines a decisive test. If gas is detected streaming along the sunward jet beyond the 5,000-kilometer limit, then the assumption of low-velocity sublimation breaks down. Gas cannot survive that far sunward unless it is ejected at much higher speeds—kilometers per second rather than hundreds of meters per second.

Such speeds are not achievable through passive heating of ice.

They are, however, characteristic of propulsion systems.

A chemical exhaust traveling at five kilometers per second would allow gas to remain sunward out to roughly 25,000 kilometers. An ion-driven exhaust, with velocities approaching 90 kilometers per second, could sustain gas streams to distances exceeding 100,000 kilometers.

This does not mean such a system exists. It means that if gas is present at those distances, the natural-comet explanation fails on physical grounds alone.

What this image contributes is geometric evidence. The long, oddly placed jet does not behave like a diffuse dust fan. It does not widen appreciably with distance. It does not arc away under radiation pressure the way dust typically does. Instead, it maintains a disciplined alignment toward the Sun, consistent with a directed outflow rather than passive shedding.