Isotopic Evidence for a Cold and Distant Origin of the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS
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2026
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| author | Cordiner, Martin Roth, Nathan X. Micheli, Marco Villanueva, Geronimo Farnocchia, Davide Charnley, Steven Biver, Nicolas Bockelee-Morvan, Dominique Bodewits, Dennis Chandler, Colin Orion Crovisier, Jacques Drozdovskaya, Maria N. Furuya, Kenji Kelley, Michael S. P. Milam, Stefanie Noonan, John W. Opitom, Cyrielle Schwamb, Megan E. Thomas, Cristina A. |
| author_facet | Cordiner, Martin Roth, Nathan X. Micheli, Marco Villanueva, Geronimo Farnocchia, Davide Charnley, Steven Biver, Nicolas Bockelee-Morvan, Dominique Bodewits, Dennis Chandler, Colin Orion Crovisier, Jacques Drozdovskaya, Maria N. Furuya, Kenji Kelley, Michael S. P. Milam, Stefanie Noonan, John W. Opitom, Cyrielle Schwamb, Megan E. Thomas, Cristina A. |
| contents | Interstellar objects provide the only directly observable samples of icy planetesimals formed around other stars, and can therefore provide insight into the diversity of physical and chemical conditions occurring during exoplanet formation. Here we report isotopic measurements of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which reveal an elemental composition unlike any Solar System body. The water in 3I/ATLAS is enriched in deuterium, at a level of D/H = (0.95 +- 0.06)%, which is more than an order of magnitude higher than in known comets, while its range of 12C/13C ratios (141-191 for CO2 and 123-172 for CO) exceeds typical values found in the Solar System, as well as nearby interstellar clouds and protoplanetary disks. Such extreme isotopic signatures indicate formation at temperatures $\lesssim30$ K in a relatively metal-poor environment, early in the history of the Galaxy. When interpreted with respect to models for Galactic chemical evolution, the carbon isotopic composition implies that 3I/ATLAS accreted roughly 10-12 billion years ago, following an early period of intense star formation. 3I/ATLAS thus represents a preserved fragment of an ancient planetary system, and provides direct evidence for active ice chemistry and volatile-rich planetesimal formation in the young Milky Way. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_06911 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Isotopic Evidence for a Cold and Distant Origin of the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Cordiner, Martin Roth, Nathan X. Micheli, Marco Villanueva, Geronimo Farnocchia, Davide Charnley, Steven Biver, Nicolas Bockelee-Morvan, Dominique Bodewits, Dennis Chandler, Colin Orion Crovisier, Jacques Drozdovskaya, Maria N. Furuya, Kenji Kelley, Michael S. P. Milam, Stefanie Noonan, John W. Opitom, Cyrielle Schwamb, Megan E. Thomas, Cristina A. Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies Interstellar objects provide the only directly observable samples of icy planetesimals formed around other stars, and can therefore provide insight into the diversity of physical and chemical conditions occurring during exoplanet formation. Here we report isotopic measurements of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which reveal an elemental composition unlike any Solar System body. The water in 3I/ATLAS is enriched in deuterium, at a level of D/H = (0.95 +- 0.06)%, which is more than an order of magnitude higher than in known comets, while its range of 12C/13C ratios (141-191 for CO2 and 123-172 for CO) exceeds typical values found in the Solar System, as well as nearby interstellar clouds and protoplanetary disks. Such extreme isotopic signatures indicate formation at temperatures $\lesssim30$ K in a relatively metal-poor environment, early in the history of the Galaxy. When interpreted with respect to models for Galactic chemical evolution, the carbon isotopic composition implies that 3I/ATLAS accreted roughly 10-12 billion years ago, following an early period of intense star formation. 3I/ATLAS thus represents a preserved fragment of an ancient planetary system, and provides direct evidence for active ice chemistry and volatile-rich planetesimal formation in the young Milky Way. |
| title | Isotopic Evidence for a Cold and Distant Origin of the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS |
| topic | Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.06911 |