Comet 3I/ATLAS, discovered in July, has been found to contain significant amounts of water ice, which could be over 7 billion years old, making it the oldest comet humanity has ever seen. The team behind the discovery used NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility and Gemini South Telescope to analyze the comet’s composition.
The findings indicate that 3I/ATLAS is a comet, with a coma forming as it approaches the sun. However, unlike other comets, no gas emissions were detected. Instead, its spectroscopic characteristics show similarities to D-type asteroids, which are rich in organic molecules and water ice.
“This could represent some of the oldest and most pristine water ever observed,” said Bin Yang, leader of the research team. “The structure of water ice carries rich information about the object’s formation conditions.”
The discovery provides a unique opportunity for scientists to study what conditions exist in other planetary systems. The presence of water ice on 3I/ATLAS suggests that it formed around 2.5 billion years ago, giving it an age of over 7 billion years.
While the initial detection of individual compounds is pending, Yang and his team are awaiting complementary data from other telescopes to confirm their findings and search for gas emissions. This discovery could offer deeper insights into the evolution of the Milky Way galaxy.
Source: https://www.space.com/astronomy/asteroids/interstellar-invader-comet-3i-atlas-is-packed-with-water-ice-that-could-be-older-than-earth