Post-Perihelion Integral Field Spectroscopy of the Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
Fuente:
arXiv
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2026
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1866909999219867648 |
|---|---|
| author | Hoogendam, Willem B. Jones, David O. Yang, Bin Shappee, Benjamin J. Wray, James J. Meech, Karen J. Ashall, Christopher Desai, Dhvanil D. Hinkle, Jason T. Hoffman, Andrew M. Medler, Kyle Pfeffer, Cameron Zhao, Ruining |
| author_facet | Hoogendam, Willem B. Jones, David O. Yang, Bin Shappee, Benjamin J. Wray, James J. Meech, Karen J. Ashall, Christopher Desai, Dhvanil D. Hinkle, Jason T. Hoffman, Andrew M. Medler, Kyle Pfeffer, Cameron Zhao, Ruining |
| contents | The environs of other stellar systems may be directly probed by analyzing the cometary activity of interstellar objects. The recently discovered interstellar object 3I/ATLAS was the subject of an intensive worldwide follow-up campaign in its pre-perihelion approach. Now, 3I/ATLAS has begun its post-perihelion departure from the Solar System. In this letter, we report the first post-perihelion blue-sensitive integral-field unit spectroscopy of 3I/ATLAS using the Keck Cosmic Web Imager on November 16, 2025. We confirm previously reported CN, Fe, and Ni outgassing along with detections of carbon chain molecules $\mathrm{C}_2$ and $\mathrm{C}_3$. We calculate production rates for each species. We find Fe and Ni production rates of $\mathrm{Q_{Fe}} = (9.55\pm3.96)\times10^{25}$ atoms s$^{-1}$, and $\mathrm{Q_{Ni}} = (6.61\pm2.74)\times10^{25}$ atoms s$^{-1}$, resulting in a ratio of $\log(\mathrm{Q_{Ni}} / \mathrm{Q_{Fe}}) = -0.16\pm0.03$, which matches Solar System comets well and continues the pre-perihelion trend of declining $\log(\mathrm{Q_{Ni}} / \mathrm{Q_{Fe}})$ with $r_h$. We investigate the radial distributions of these elemental species and find characteristic $e$-folding radii of 3880$\pm$39 km for Ni, 6053$\pm$68 km for CN, 4194$\pm$45 km for $\mathrm{C}_2$, and 3833$\pm$45 km for $\mathrm{C}_3$. Compared to pre-perihelion measurements, these radii have increased by a factor of $\sim$6.5--7. Our post-perihelion observations reveal that 3I/ATLAS continues to exhibit cometary behavior broadly consistent with Solar System comets. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_16983 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Post-Perihelion Integral Field Spectroscopy of the Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Hoogendam, Willem B. Jones, David O. Yang, Bin Shappee, Benjamin J. Wray, James J. Meech, Karen J. Ashall, Christopher Desai, Dhvanil D. Hinkle, Jason T. Hoffman, Andrew M. Medler, Kyle Pfeffer, Cameron Zhao, Ruining Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies The environs of other stellar systems may be directly probed by analyzing the cometary activity of interstellar objects. The recently discovered interstellar object 3I/ATLAS was the subject of an intensive worldwide follow-up campaign in its pre-perihelion approach. Now, 3I/ATLAS has begun its post-perihelion departure from the Solar System. In this letter, we report the first post-perihelion blue-sensitive integral-field unit spectroscopy of 3I/ATLAS using the Keck Cosmic Web Imager on November 16, 2025. We confirm previously reported CN, Fe, and Ni outgassing along with detections of carbon chain molecules $\mathrm{C}_2$ and $\mathrm{C}_3$. We calculate production rates for each species. We find Fe and Ni production rates of $\mathrm{Q_{Fe}} = (9.55\pm3.96)\times10^{25}$ atoms s$^{-1}$, and $\mathrm{Q_{Ni}} = (6.61\pm2.74)\times10^{25}$ atoms s$^{-1}$, resulting in a ratio of $\log(\mathrm{Q_{Ni}} / \mathrm{Q_{Fe}}) = -0.16\pm0.03$, which matches Solar System comets well and continues the pre-perihelion trend of declining $\log(\mathrm{Q_{Ni}} / \mathrm{Q_{Fe}})$ with $r_h$. We investigate the radial distributions of these elemental species and find characteristic $e$-folding radii of 3880$\pm$39 km for Ni, 6053$\pm$68 km for CN, 4194$\pm$45 km for $\mathrm{C}_2$, and 3833$\pm$45 km for $\mathrm{C}_3$. Compared to pre-perihelion measurements, these radii have increased by a factor of $\sim$6.5--7. Our post-perihelion observations reveal that 3I/ATLAS continues to exhibit cometary behavior broadly consistent with Solar System comets. |
| title | Post-Perihelion Integral Field Spectroscopy of the Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS |
| topic | Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.16983 |