As interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS began moving away from the Sun in December 2025, astronomers took the opportunity to turn NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope in its direction and capture detailed measurements of its chemical components. The comet was freshly warmed from its closest pass by the Sun, and its ancient ice had been converted to a bright coma of gas ideal for observation.
Webb captured detailed data, including
chemical ratios of carbon and deuterium, also known as heavy hydrogen, that are
not found in solar system comets. The results surprised researchers. Working
backward, astronomers used the components that make up comet 3I/ATLAS to
understand the environment in which it formed.
A paper detailing the findings published
June 22 in the journal Nature.
Researchers used the NIRSpec (Near-Infrared
Spectrograph) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to map specific
chemical contents of comet 3I/ATLAS as it moved away from the Sun.
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Martin Cordiner (CUA,
NASA-GSFC); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
The comet’s name comes from its
status as the third confirmed interstellar comet, meaning it originated outside
the solar system, and the telescope that first spotted it, the NASA-funded
ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System).
“This was a unique opportunity to
study an ancient object from the distant galaxy, probably pre-dating our Sun
and solar system,” said astro-chemist Martin Cordiner of NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author of the study. “On the one
hand, we get direct insight into that distant time and place, and on the other,
we learn something about how unusual our own solar system may be.”
Cordiner and the research team
joined astronomers from many sub-disciplines in taking the opportunity to get a
look at 3I/ATLAS
on its journey through the solar system. They received approval to interrupt Webb’s planned schedule of
observations to make use of its NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument
to study the comet.
NIRSpec revealed exceptionally high
levels of deuterium, about 30 times more than seen in solar system comets. This
implies that 3I/ATLAS may have originated in a very cold system much earlier in
the history of our galaxy. During its formation, the material that became
incorporated into 3I/ATLAS was likely exposed to plenty of radiation, but not
any long-term warmth that would have reprocessed its “heavy water” ice, with
deuterium, into the type of H2O ice we are familiar with on
Earth.
Image: 3I/ATLAS Compared to Solar System Comets
These graphs lay out the significant difference in
composition between the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS and comets originating in
our solar system. This very specific data helps researchers build a picture of
the comet’s original planetary system.
Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Martin Cordiner (CUA,
NASA-GSFC), Leah Hustak (STScI)
Additionally, NIRSpec showed only traces of carbon-13 compared to lighter-weight carbon-12. This also points to a very old origin for 3I/ATLAS, as stellar systems become enriched with carbon-13 over time as generations of stars are born and die in the galaxy. That is why there are higher levels of carbon-13 in our system, around our Sun, which formed relatively recently, 4.5 billion years ago.
The research team estimates that 3I/ATLAS could have formed as long as 10 to 12 billion years ago, during the universe’s “cosmic noon,” when star formation was at its height. Its young origin system was likely ensconced in a relatively cold, dense cloud. The abundance of heavy water shows that 3I/ATLAS spent its formative years in a deeply frozen state.
A separate study using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, led by astronomer Cyrielle Opitom of the University of Edinburgh, complements Webb’s findings with an analysis of 3I/ATLAS’s carbon and nitrogen varieties in the form of the chemical cyanide.
“For us as scientists, finding these rare isotopes is fascinating, but the bigger picture here is looking at the possibilities of prebiotic chemistry elsewhere in the galaxy,” said Stefanie Milam of NASA Goddard and co-author of the study with Cordiner. “So far, we know of only one place in the vast cosmos where chemical ingredients led to life – our solar system, our Earth. Analysis of these interstellar objects is a major step towards learning how common, or uncommon, the conditions for the evolution of life are in the universe.”
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
To learn more about Webb, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/webb
Source: NASA’s Webb Finds Clues to Ancient, Distant Origin of Comet 3I/ATLAS - NASA Science
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