Dynamical simulation of the Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ahuja, Goldy, Ganesh, Shashikiran
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Ahuja, Goldy
Ganesh, Shashikiran
author_facet Ahuja, Goldy
Ganesh, Shashikiran
contents Comet 3I/ATLAS, also known as C/2025 N1, was discovered on 2025 July 1 UT by NASA Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), with a v$_{\infty}$ $\sim$ 58 kms$^{-1}$. This is the fastest among the three interstellar objects discovered so far. In this work, we study the interaction of the 3I/ATLAS with Mars, pre-perihelion, and Jupiter post-perihelion. We also present the results of the dynamical simulations of the orbital evolution of the comet for a hundred years in the past and future. For our analysis, we have used REBOUND, an N-Body simulation package, to study these situations. We use the adaptive size mathematical integrator \textsc{Ias15}, with a 1-day time step for long-term integration, and a 1-hour time step to study the effect of the planets on this body during the close encounters. We have seen an effect of Jupiter on the orbital parameters of the comet, which affects its post-perijove trajectory significantly. The impact of Mars on this comet is minimal compared to the effect of Jupiter. This is consistent with the point that the comet moves well past Mars's Hill radius but very close to Jupiter's Hill radius at the respective close approaches. However, the effect of non-gravitational forces will alter the results. Since the non-gravitational forces are not yet known, we predict the variation of the orbital parameters considering a range of possible magnitudes of the non-gravitational acceleration.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_16247
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Dynamical simulation of the Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
Ahuja, Goldy
Ganesh, Shashikiran
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Comet 3I/ATLAS, also known as C/2025 N1, was discovered on 2025 July 1 UT by NASA Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), with a v$_{\infty}$ $\sim$ 58 kms$^{-1}$. This is the fastest among the three interstellar objects discovered so far. In this work, we study the interaction of the 3I/ATLAS with Mars, pre-perihelion, and Jupiter post-perihelion. We also present the results of the dynamical simulations of the orbital evolution of the comet for a hundred years in the past and future. For our analysis, we have used REBOUND, an N-Body simulation package, to study these situations. We use the adaptive size mathematical integrator \textsc{Ias15}, with a 1-day time step for long-term integration, and a 1-hour time step to study the effect of the planets on this body during the close encounters. We have seen an effect of Jupiter on the orbital parameters of the comet, which affects its post-perijove trajectory significantly. The impact of Mars on this comet is minimal compared to the effect of Jupiter. This is consistent with the point that the comet moves well past Mars's Hill radius but very close to Jupiter's Hill radius at the respective close approaches. However, the effect of non-gravitational forces will alter the results. Since the non-gravitational forces are not yet known, we predict the variation of the orbital parameters considering a range of possible magnitudes of the non-gravitational acceleration.
title Dynamical simulation of the Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.16247