Astronomers Find Water Traces in Interstellar Visitor
For millions of years, a tiny icy fragment wandered through space, like a sealed bottle drifting across a cosmic ocean. This summer, that "message in a bottle" arrived in our solar system, named 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar comet.
Researchers from Auburn University used NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to study the comet and made a groundbreaking discovery: a faint glow from hydroxyl gas (OH), indicating water was escaping from the comet.
- This marks the first time water-related activity has been detected in an interstellar comet.
- Normally, telescopes on Earth can't detect such faint ultraviolet light because our atmosphere blocks it.
"message in a bottle" arrived in our solar system
Auburn University researchers detected water traces in 3I/ATLAS.
Author's summary: Astronomers detect water in interstellar comet.
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