Using JWST, scientists found that interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is built from tiny ice grains mixed with dust that are quite different from our solar system’s comets, Space.com reports. They do look a lot like trans-Neptunian objects at the edge of our solar system.
- 3I/ATLAS was found in summer 2025, the third interstellar visitor after ‘Oumuamua (2017) and Borisov (2019)
- It formed in a planet-forming disk around some young star, possibly 10 to 12 billion years ago, more than twice the age of our solar system
- Its ice grains are smaller than a micron
NASA Goddard’s Martin Cordiner: “We designed [JWST] to be ready the moment an active interstellar comet was found.”
My take
A snowball older than our sun, from a star we’ll never know, drifted through our neighborhood. “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name” (Psalm 147:4).
God Bless, and May the Source Be with You!
