Did an Ancient Cosmic Visitor Just Explode Near the Sun?

An object arrived from beyond our solar system this summer. Scientists are debating whether it blew itself apart near the Sun — or whether the numbers point to something unusual about what this object really is.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
An object derived from beyond our Solar System this summer.
Scientists are now debating whether it blew itself apart near
the Sun, or whether the numbers point to something unusual
about what this object really is. I'm Darren Marler, and
this is weird dark News. Back on July first, twenty
twenty five, a telescope in Chile spotted something unusual streaking

(00:34):
through space. The discovery got reported as Comic three I Atlas,
only the third known interstellar object ever observed passing through
our Solar System. Astronomers went digging through archives and found
the object had actually been photographed earlier. Earlier observations stretched
back to June fourteenth, twenty twenty five. An amateur astronomer

(00:55):
named Sam Dean found even older observations from early June
twenty two, twenty five. He figured out why nobody spotted
it sooner. Three Iatlis was passing in front of a
region of space packed with stars, where comet would be
incredibly hard to pick out. The speeds involved are absurd.
When astronomers first identified three Iatlis, the interstellar comet was

(01:17):
traveling about one hundred and thirty seven thousand miles per hour.
That's fast enough to fly from New York to Los
Angeles in less than two minutes. When three Iatlists entered
our neighborhood, it was moving at fifty eight kilometers per
second relative to the Sun. That is significantly faster than
the previous two interstellar visitors that we've discovered. The first one, Amuamua,

(01:39):
was traveling at twenty six kilometers per second when astronomers
spotted it in twenty seventeen. The second, to Iborisov, moved
at thirty two kilometers per second when found in twenty nineteen.
The path of three Iallis is almost a straight line
through our Solar System. Objects that orbit within our Solar
System follow curved paths. Anything on a newly straight path

(02:01):
is just passing through. It came from somewhere else, and
it's heading back out. Astronomers suspect that three iyat Lists
could be the oldest comet ever observed. The object's origins
traced to somewhere in the galaxy. When three Iyatlis arrived,
it was moving in unusual directions compared to most stars
and objects near us. This means the comet follows a

(02:21):
tilted path around the Milky Way rather than traveling in
the same plane as most other objects. Three eyeat Lists
reached its closest point to the Sun around October thirtieth,
twenty twenty five, at a distance of about one hundred
and thirty million miles, just inside the orbit of Mars.
During this close pass, spacecraft orbiting Mars got a unique
opportunity to observe the visitor up close. Two European spacecraft

(02:45):
that normally study Mars both turned their cameras towards three
I Atlas between October first and October seventh, twenty twenty five.
During the comet's closest approach to Mars October third, it
was about thirty million kilometers away from those spacecraft. Each
spacecraft used its camera to watch the comet pass. Both
cameras are designed to photograph the surface of Mars from

(03:07):
much closer, so scientists weren't sure what to expect from
observations of a dim target so far away. In the images,
Comet three iAtlas appeared as a slightly fuzzy white dot
moving near the center of the frame. The faint comet
was observable from October eighteenth to the twenty fourth with
a weather satellite that can see objects down to a
certain brightness level. During the same period, other sun watching

(03:30):
satellites also tracked its progress. Scientists detected something unexpected during
the close solar passage. Astronomers in South Africa used a
radio telescope on October twenty fourth to observe the visitor.
Two previous attempts since September had come up empty, but
the third time it worked. The team detected signals from
hydroxyl radicals, molecules that get produced when water molecules are

(03:54):
broken down by sunlight. Earlier observations had provided clues about
what the object is made of. Data from the Web
telescope showed that when three I Atlas was farther from
the Sun, eighty seven percent of the gas around it
was carbon dioxide. Researchers also found increasing levels of nickel
vapor as it got closer to the Sun. The water

(04:15):
detection changed how astronomers understood the object. NASA's Swift Observatory
detected hydroxyl gas, a chemical fingerprint of water. This discovery
represented a major breakthrough. Previous observations by the James Webb
Space Telescope had hinted that three I Atlas is mostly
made of carbon dioxide ice with only a trace of

(04:36):
water accounting for four percent of its mass. Some scientists
had started wondering if this visitor from another star system
was fundamentally different from comets in our own solar system.
Finding hydroxyl radicals and by extension, water meant scientists could
study the ancient visitor with familiar tools. When astronomers look
at comets from our own solar system, they analyzed water

(04:58):
to measure how active that comet is is. Finding the
same signal in an interstellar object means researchers could use
the same methods. Dennis Bodwitz, a physics professor at Auburn University,
explained the significance when astronomers detect water from an interstellar comet,
they're essentially reading a message from another planetary system. It
shows that the ingredients for life's chemistry aren't unique to

(05:20):
our own cornera space. Zushi Shing, a researcher who led
the study about the water detection, pointed out how each
interstellar comet has been a surprise. Uamuamua appeared dry, Borisov
was rich in carbon monoxide. Now three I at lists
was giving up water at a distance where researchers didn't
expect it. Each one changes what scientists thought they knew

(05:42):
about how planets and comets form around stars. From Hubble
Space telescope observations in August twenty twenty five, astronomers determined
that the comet's core is no bigger than five point
six kilometers across. That size limit became crucial to understanding
what happened next. On November ninth, twenty twenty five, new
images revealed something dramatic. Two British astronomers captured detailed images

(06:08):
showing multiple jets shooting outward from the comet. These jets
extended about one million kilometers toward the Sun and three
million kilometers in the opposite direction. The visual was striking.
One smoky tail extended upward and to the right, spanning
roughly the apparent size of the full moon in our sky.
The other tail, made of dust particles, extended downward and

(06:31):
to the left toward the Sun. Harvard astronomer ABVI Lobe
started doing calculations based on what these jets meant for
a natural comet. For jets made of ice turning into vapor,
the speed would be expected at about zero point four
kilometers per second. At that speed, the jets must have
been streaming outward for somewhere between one and three months

(06:51):
to reach the distances seen in the images. The jets
heading toward the Sun were stopped by the solar wind
at a distance of one million kilometers. That gave Lob
enough information to calculate how much material was flowing out.
The math showed a mass loss of five billion tons
per month. His earlier calculations suggested the total mass of

(07:12):
three I atlas is at least thirty three billion tons.
If the object was losing five billion tons per month,
that means three iealyists may have shot approximately sixteen percent
of its mass during its close pass by the sun.
The math stops making sense here. To supply five billion

(07:32):
tons of carbon dioxide over a month, three I atlas
must have received enough energy from sunlight to turn all
of that ice into gas. Running the numbers, the surface
area of three iAtlas would need to be larger than
sixteen hundred square kilometers. That's the area of a sphere
with a diameter of twenty three kilometers. Hubble imaging data

(07:53):
showed the maximum diameter is five point six kilometers. The
required diameter is more than four times larger than what
the Hubble Space telescope actually observed. If the ice was
mostly water instead of carbon dioxide, the required diameter jumps
to fifty one kilometers. The required surface area to provide
the mass loss is at least sixteen times larger than

(08:16):
the upper limit from Hubble observations. As Lobe wrote in
his November tenth analysis Houston, we have a problem with
the natural comet hypothesis. When the Web telescope collected data
on August six, twenty twenty five, three iAtlas was losing
only one hundred and fifty kilograms per second. The mass
loss at its closest point to the sun calculated from

(08:38):
the November images was about two million kilograms per second,
more than thirteen thousand times faster. That is not a
gradual increase, it's an explosion of activity. Lobes analysis suggested
a straightforward explanation. If three iAtlas is a natural comet,
to increase the surface area by a minimum factor of

(08:59):
sixty ten, the object would need to break into at
least sixteen equal pieces, and likely many more. The implication
the latest images suggest three eye atlasts exploded at its
closest pass to the sun torn apart by heating. Breaking
into fragments would have increased the surface area of the material.
More pieces means more total surface area exposed to sunlight.

(09:23):
The math suggested that three ie atlists broke apart, and
observers were witnessing the resulting fireworks. If that's what's happened,
the poll of the Sun should separate those fragments over
the coming weeks. That would create an appearance similar to
comet shoemaker Levy nine and nineteen ninety four, which famously
broke apart before colliding with Jupiter. Loebe discussed this possible

(09:43):
outcome a month before the close pass. On November tenth,
twenty twenty five, multiple news outlets ran with headlines suggesting
three eye atlasts had exploded or broken apart. The story
spread quickly a mysterious interstellar visitor possibly disintegrating after its
brush with the Sun. But then today November eleventh, Chi
Chung Jang at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona looked at

(10:05):
the latest images and came to a very different conclusion. Jang,
who has been studying the comet, told Live Science that
all the images he'd seen showed a fairly ordinary healthy
looking comet. There was no sign at all, but the
core broke apart. The observations showed three i at lists
displaying two distinct tales. Michael Yeager observed the tale on

(10:26):
November eighth, twenty twenty five. Jian Lucamasi from the Virtual
Telescope Project captured images from Italy on November eleventh that
showed the comet looking normal, not exploded, not fragmented. So
what's going on here? The mathematical problem lowb identified is real.
The surface area required by the mass loss calculations doesn't

(10:46):
match the size observations from Hubble. The dramatic increase in
activity at the close pass actually did happen, but the
core appears intact. This creates three possibilities. First, maybe the
calculations about mass loss are wrong somehow, or there's a
mechanism for the observed jets that doesn't require the massive
surface area. Second, maybe the object did fragment, but the

(11:09):
pieces are still traveling together in a tight cluster that
looks like a single object. Third, maybe three iatlists isn't
the natural comet at all. The size of three iat
liss highlights another puzzle that has nothing to do with
whether it broke apart. The inferred mass of three iat
lists is over a million times more than the inferred
mass of one eye of Muamua. Why would astronomers find

(11:32):
such a giant object before witnessing a million objects of
a Muamoa's size. Lobe calculated that there simply isn't enough
rocky material in interstellar space to accommodate the delivery of
such a large, icy object to the Inner Solar System
over a survey period of just a decade. An object
with a diameter above ten kilometers should arrive in our

(11:54):
vicinity once per ten thousand years or longer. The probability
of finding three i at lists when we did is
less than zero point one percent. If all rocky materials
are packaged in large bodies of this size, that drops
to less than zero point zero zero zero five percent.
If you account for how planetary systems typically form the

(12:15):
path adds another layer of improbability. The plane of three
iatlasses orbit around the Sun lies within five degrees of
Earth's orbital plane. Out of all the random orientations an
interstellar object could have, the likelihood of that alignment is
zero point two percent. Combine the size probability with the
trajectory probability, and you get odds of about one in

(12:36):
one hundred million for a three iatlyasts to arrive with
these characteristics if it has a familiar origin. Lob Is
pointed out that technological thrusters would require much smaller mass
loss to produce the observed jets. Around three iatlass. Chemical
rockets propel themselves with an exhaust speed of three to
five kilometers per second, ten times larger than the maximum

(12:58):
speed of gas sublimated by sight light from natural comet surfaces.
Ion thrusters reach even higher speeds of ten to fifty
kilometers per second. More advanced propulsion systems might employ yet
higher speeds, reducing the required mass loss by several orders
of magnitude. This isn't the first time Loba suggested we
might be looking at artificial objects from other civilizations. In

(13:21):
twenty eighteen, he and a colleague published a paper suggesting
that a muamua might be an artificial thin solar sail
accelerated by solar radiation pressure. That first interstellar visitor displayed
unusual characteristics. After sling shotting around the sun, Abuamua sped
up and deviated from its expected trajectory, apparently propelled by

(13:41):
a mysterious force. Comets do that too, but they show
visible evidence of gas and dust streaming off the surface.
A muamua showed no such evidence. The object also tumbled
in a strange way and was unusually bright before encountering
our Sun. A muamua was essentially at relative to nearby stars,

(14:02):
statistically very rare. Rather than thinking of it as a
vessel hurtling through space, from the object's perspective, our Solar
systems slammed into it. The scientific community has largely reached
consensus that Imuamua has properties entirely consistent with a naturally
occurring object. By twenty twenty one, most astronomers agreed it
was perhaps made of nitrogen ice or a comet like

(14:24):
body altered by warming as it traveled through the Solar System.
Several researchers have criticized Lobe's hypotheses about alien spacecraft, with
some refusing to engage with this work entirely. For three
i at lists, most researchers remain confident it is a
natural object. Richard Moisel at the European Space Agency told
Newsweek that there have been no signs pointing to non

(14:46):
natural origins in the available observations. The analysis from many
astronomers around the globe shows that three Iyeatlts is consistent
with being an icy object that formed around another star
and was later scattered out of its home planetary system.
Recent observations by the Very Large Telescope detected molecules familiar
from comets that originated within our Solar system. While the

(15:08):
chemical mix in three I Atlis is slightly different, those
variations likely reflect the differences in its home star system
compared to ours, not evidence of alien engineering. Beyond its appearance,
three I Atlus also behaves like a comet, with its
trajectory showing no signs of deliberate course changes or propulsive maneuvers.
The object is simply coasting through space, reflecting sunlight as

(15:31):
it passes, exactly as a natural object would. After three
Iyealyis passed its closest point to the sun, it became
visible in the sky again just before sunrise in November
twenty twenty five. The comet is now heading back into
darker skies. It's expected to shine around magnitude eleven to twelve,
too faint for the naked eye, only possibly visible in

(15:52):
good binoculars under ideal dark sky conditions, though small telescopes
will show it more reliably. During December twenty two, twenty five,
the comet will move through the constellations Virgo and Leo.
Its brightness is expected to drop and then keep fading.
As the year ends, the comet will drift away, eventually
leaving the Solar System behind forever. On December nineteenth, twenty

(16:14):
twenty five, three i AT lists will get closest to
Earth at a distance of about two hundred and sixty
nine million kilometers or one hundred and sixty seven million miles.
This will give ground based telescopes, as well as the
Hubble and web space telescopes opportunities to examine the comet
in detail and determine whether it's intact or fragmented. Those
observations should finally settle this question. The European Space Agency's

(16:37):
Jupiter Emission attempted observations in November twenty twenty five, using
several instruments. Scientists don't expect to receive data from those observations,
though until February twenty twenty six. The James web Space
telescope is scheduled to make its next observations of three
iatlists in December of this year. Hubble will perform measurements
to determine the composition of the gas and will monitor

(16:59):
the comet on its way out of the Solar System.
After Earth. Three iat lists will pass about fifty four
million kilometers from Jupiter on March sixteenth, twenty twenty six.
How much of its core will be left by that
time remains to be seen. Upcoming observations will determine the velocity, mass,
and composition of the jets. These measurements will help answer

(17:19):
whether the dramatic mass laws can be explained by natural
processes or requires reconsidering the object's nature. The European Space
Agency is preparing a comet interception mission, due to launch
in twenty twenty nine into a parking orbit where it
will wait for a suitable target. The spacecraft will aim
for a pristine comet from the distant ort cloud that

(17:39):
surrounds our Solar System, or unlikely but appealing, an interstellar
object like three iAtlas. When commet interceptor was selected in
twenty nineteen, scientists only knew if one interstellar object O Muamua,
discovered in twenty seventeen. Since then, though two more such
objects have been discovered, showing large diversity in their appearance.

(18:00):
Visiting one could provide a breakthrough and understanding their nature.
The mission will be the first to visit a comet
coming directly from the outer reaches of the Sun's realm,
carrying material untouched since the dawn of the Solar System.
It's unlikely that astronomers will discover an interstellar object that
is reachable for comets interceptor given their rarity. Still, as
a first demonstration of a rapid response mission that weights

(18:23):
in space for its target, it will serve as a
pathfinder for possible future missions to intercept these mysterious visitors.
Interstellar comets offer scientists tangible connections to the broader galaxy.
They provide chemical and physical details from distant star systems
and reveal information about where those objects formed and when.
Each interstellar visitor carries clues about planetary formation in environments

(18:47):
completely different from our own Solar System. For now, three
i at lists continues its journey through our Solar System,
carrying material from a distant planetary system, now observed and
debated by astronomers trying to understand what it is and
where it came. From the coming weeks will reveal more
whether the object maintained its integrity or fragmented under solar heating.

(19:08):
In other words, did it explode, Whether the dramatic mass
loss can be explained by natural processes or requires alternative explanations.
Whether these statistical anomalies are just unlikely coincidences or hint
at something more unusual. Three iallis entered our solar system
this summer as the third known interstellar object ever observed.
It may leave having taught us something fundamental about comets

(19:31):
from other star systems, or it might leave us with
more questions and answers about what we actually witnessed passing
through our cosmic neighborhood. Time will tell. If you'd like
to read this story for yourself or share the article
with a friend, you can read it on the Weird
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(19:53):
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