Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Observed from Mars by China's Tianwen-1 Spacecraft
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| Formato: | Preprint |
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2026
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| author | Ren, Xin Yan, Wei Zhao, Ruining Wang, Shu Gao, Xingye Fu, Qiang Zhang, Qing Yang, Bin Hui, Man-To Xiao, Zhiyong Liu, Xiaodong Li, Cunhui Tian, Renhao Liu, Wenguang Wang, Dong Liu, Shaoran Ren, Cong Dong, Jie Zhu, Xinbo Xie, Pan Li, Jian-Yang Geng, Yan Liu, Jianjun |
| author_facet | Ren, Xin Yan, Wei Zhao, Ruining Wang, Shu Gao, Xingye Fu, Qiang Zhang, Qing Yang, Bin Hui, Man-To Xiao, Zhiyong Liu, Xiaodong Li, Cunhui Tian, Renhao Liu, Wenguang Wang, Dong Liu, Shaoran Ren, Cong Dong, Jie Zhu, Xinbo Xie, Pan Li, Jian-Yang Geng, Yan Liu, Jianjun |
| contents | China's Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter successfully imaged the third interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, during its close encounter with Mars using the onboard HiRIC CMOS camera. This is China's first deep-space observation of an astronomical object. These observations constitute the first imaging of this object from a vantage point significantly out of its orbital plane, providing a unique constraint on dust dynamics. Three observing epochs between 2025 September 30 and October 3 reveal clear changes in coma and tail morphology driven by the rapidly evolving viewing geometry. Comparison with Finson-Probstein dust dynamical models indicates that the coma is dominated by large grains with solar radiation pressure parameter $β\approx 10^{-3} $ - $10^{-2}$, corresponding to grain sizes of a few 100s $μ$m. The extent of the sunward coma implies dust ejection velocities of $3$ - $10$ m s$^{-1}$. Despite the morphological evolution, the azimuthally averaged surface brightness profile remains nearly unchanged through the three epochs, transitioning from a radial slope near -1 close to the nucleus to slightly steeper than -1.5 at larger cometocentric distances, consistent with steady-state dust outflow accelerated by solar radiation pressure. Photometry yields an average $Afρ\sim (2.0\pm0.2)\times10^4$ cm and a corresponding dust mass loss rate of $\dot{M} \sim 10^3$ kg s$^{-1}$. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_10350 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Observed from Mars by China's Tianwen-1 Spacecraft Ren, Xin Yan, Wei Zhao, Ruining Wang, Shu Gao, Xingye Fu, Qiang Zhang, Qing Yang, Bin Hui, Man-To Xiao, Zhiyong Liu, Xiaodong Li, Cunhui Tian, Renhao Liu, Wenguang Wang, Dong Liu, Shaoran Ren, Cong Dong, Jie Zhu, Xinbo Xie, Pan Li, Jian-Yang Geng, Yan Liu, Jianjun Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies China's Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter successfully imaged the third interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, during its close encounter with Mars using the onboard HiRIC CMOS camera. This is China's first deep-space observation of an astronomical object. These observations constitute the first imaging of this object from a vantage point significantly out of its orbital plane, providing a unique constraint on dust dynamics. Three observing epochs between 2025 September 30 and October 3 reveal clear changes in coma and tail morphology driven by the rapidly evolving viewing geometry. Comparison with Finson-Probstein dust dynamical models indicates that the coma is dominated by large grains with solar radiation pressure parameter $β\approx 10^{-3} $ - $10^{-2}$, corresponding to grain sizes of a few 100s $μ$m. The extent of the sunward coma implies dust ejection velocities of $3$ - $10$ m s$^{-1}$. Despite the morphological evolution, the azimuthally averaged surface brightness profile remains nearly unchanged through the three epochs, transitioning from a radial slope near -1 close to the nucleus to slightly steeper than -1.5 at larger cometocentric distances, consistent with steady-state dust outflow accelerated by solar radiation pressure. Photometry yields an average $Afρ\sim (2.0\pm0.2)\times10^4$ cm and a corresponding dust mass loss rate of $\dot{M} \sim 10^3$ kg s$^{-1}$. |
| title | Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Observed from Mars by China's Tianwen-1 Spacecraft |
| topic | Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.10350 |