{"id":457403,"date":"2026-06-02T17:08:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T17:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/457403\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T17:08:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T17:08:56","slug":"webb-telescope-snaps-interstellar-comet-proves-its-like-nothing-weve-ever-seen-in-our-own-solar-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/457403\/","title":{"rendered":"Webb Telescope snaps interstellar comet \u2013 proves it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen in our own Solar System"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA has released the results of the James Webb Space Telescope’s observations of 3I\/ATLAS, and the data confirms the comet is like nothing we see in our own Solar System.<\/p>\n

The interstellar visitor was observed by Webb towards the end of 2025, just after its close pass of our Sun.<\/p>\n

What Webb found, scientists say, proves that comet 3I\/ATLAS formed in a distant corner of the Galaxy that’s markedly different from the conditions found within our own Solar System.<\/p>\n

\"ObservationsObservations of comet 3I\/ATLAS by NASA\u2019s SPHEREx mission in December 2025 revealed organic molecules within its coma. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/p>\n

A cosmic relic from before the Solar System
\n\"ImageImage of comet 3I\/ATLAS captured by the Gemini North telescope, 26 November 2025. This final image has been processed to correct streaking background stars. Credit: International Gemini Observatory\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/B. Bolin. Image Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory\/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage\/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)<\/p>\n

Comet 3I\/ATLAS is an interstellar comet, meaning it originated from beyond our Solar System. It’s one of only three such interstellar bodies ever discovered.<\/p>\n

The comet was first detected on 1 July 2025<\/a>, and spent the latter half of 2025 passing through our Solar System and making its close approach to the Sun.<\/p>\n

Observations have revealed that the interstellar comet could be as old as 10 billion years, making it the oldest comet ever found<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ImageImage of comet 3I\/ATLAS captured by NASA\u2019s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 2 October 2025. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/University of Arizona<\/p>\n

Our own Solar System is about 4.57 billion years old<\/a>, meaning comet 3I\/ATLAS may well be twice as old as the Sun.<\/p>\n

It’s now making its way out of our Solar System and, once it’s lost from view, will be gone forever.<\/p>\n

That’s why scientists have been using humanity’s most powerful telescopes to get a good look at 3I\/ATLAS and learn as much about it as they can, while it’s still in view.<\/p>\n

Webb’s December views of 3I\/ATLAS
\n\"TheThe James Webb Space Telescope observed interstellar comet 3I\/ATLAS on 6 August 2025 with its Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument. Credit: NASA\/JWST<\/p>\n

The James Webb Space Telescope observed comet 3I\/ATLAS in August 2025<\/a>, but then took another look in December 2025, after the comet had made its close approach to the Sun.<\/p>\n

During the December 2025 observations, Webb collected its first ever mid-infrared chemical fingerprint of an interstellar object.<\/p>\n

Webb observes the Universe in infrared, giving astronomers the chance to see bits of the cosmos that would normally be invisible to human eyes.<\/p>\n

The observations were made using Webb\u2019s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) on two different dates as the comet began to exit the Solar System following its close encounter with our Sun.<\/p>\n

The first observation occurred 15\u201316 December 2025, when the comet was 329 million km (205 million miles) from the Sun.<\/p>\n

Then on 27 December 2025, Webb observed 3I\/ATLAS when it was about 379 million km (236 million miles) from the Sun.<\/p>\n

\"ImagesImages showing observations of comet 3I\/ATLAS with the James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI instrument. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. Belyakov (Caltech), I. Wong (STScI), Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI)<\/p>\n

Webb directly detected methane gas, making it the first ever direct detection of methane gas in an interstellar object.<\/p>\n

The methane would have originally been held within comet 3I\/ATLAS in ice form, out in the cold depths of interstellar space.<\/p>\n

But as the comet approached the Sun, it heated up, causing the methane to sublimate into a gas.<\/p>\n

Scientists say the methane’s delayed appearance at comet 3I\/ATLAS could be because it was buried so deep, and it took a while for heat from the Sun to penetrate the comet to that depth.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe spectrum \u2013 the chemical analysis of light \u2013 from the James Webb Space Telescope’s observations of comet 3I\/ATLAS, December 2025. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. Belyakov (Caltech), I. Wong (STScI), Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI)
\nUnlike anything in our Solar System<\/p>\n

The team behind this study say the results are further proof that comet 3I\/ATLAS is unlike any comet that originated in our Solar System.<\/p>\n

That can tell scientists a lot about what the conditions in which the interstellar comet formed were like.<\/p>\n

They say the amount of methane relative to water found is surprisingly high.<\/p>\n

Webb also found that comet 3I\/ATLAS is unusually rich in carbon dioxide and releases much more carbon dioxide, relative to water, compared to typical Solar System comets.<\/p>\n

The Webb telescope also detected a decline in gas production as comet 3I\/ATLAS moved away from the Sun, water showing the most pronounced drop.<\/p>\n

That’s because as the comet received less heat from the Sun and began to cool down again, its surface got colder and less ice was vaporised out into space.<\/p>\n

Read the full paper in the Astrophysical Journal Letters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA has released the results of the James Webb Space Telescope’s observations of 3I\/ATLAS, and the data confirms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-457403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}