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The brand-new ultraviolet (UV) images from the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) cam aboard NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) orbiter are distinct amongst all observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in identifying its chemical makeup and just how much water vapor is launched as the Sun warms the comet. These information will assist researchers much better comprehend the past, present, and future of 3I/ATLAS.
This ultraviolet image reveals the coma of 3I/ATLAS as seen on October 9, 2025, by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft utilizing its IUVS cam. The brightest pixel at center suggests where the comet is. The surrounding intense pixels reveal where hydrogen atoms were spotted originating from the comet. Image credit: NASA/ Goddard/ LASP/ CU Boulder.
Throughout 10 days beginning September 27, 2025, MAVEN recorded 3I/ATLAS in 2 distinct methods with its IUVS video camera.
IUVS took several images of the comet in a number of wavelengths, much like utilizing different filters on a cam.
It snapped high-resolution UV images to recognize the hydrogen coming from 3I/ATLAS.
Studying a mix of these images, researchers can recognize a range of particles and much better comprehend the comet’s structure.
“The images MAVEN caught really are amazing,” stated MAVEN’s primary private investigator Dr. Shannon Curry, a scientist with
“The detections we are seeing are substantial, and we have actually just scraped the surface area of our analysis.”
This annotated composite image revealing hydrogen atoms from 3 sources, consisting of 3I/ATLAS (at left), was caught September 28, 2025, by NASA’s MAVEN orbiter utilizing its IUVS video camera. Hydrogen produced by Mars is the intense streak at right, with interplanetary hydrogen streaming through the Solar System showed by the dimmer streak in the middle. Image credit: NASA/ Goddard/ LASP/ CU Boulder.
The IUVS information likewise use an approximated ceiling of the comet’s ratio of deuterium to routine hydrogen, a tracer of the comet’s origin and development.
When the comet was at its closest to Mars, Dr. Curry and coworkers utilized more delicate channels of IUVS to map various atoms and particles in the comet’s coma, such as hydrogen and hydroxyl.
More research study of the comet’s chemical makeup might expose more about its origins and advancement.
“There was a great deal of adrenaline when we saw what we ‘d caught,” stated MAVEN’s deputy principal private investigator Dr. Justin Deighan, likewise from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder.
“Every measurement we make from this comet assists to open a brand-new understanding of interstellar things.”
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