Overview

• Integral-field spectra from Keck/KCWI on August 24 show a distinctive nickel emission plume with no detectable iron, as detailed in a newly posted preprint.
• Narrow-band imaging maps plume extents to about 600 kilometers for nickel and roughly 840 kilometers for cyanide, with trace outflow rates of 0.9 g/s for nickel and 3.9 g/s for cyanide and an overall mass loss near 150 kg/s.
• The research team confirms an anti-solar tail pointing sunward and reports no visible white-light dust tail, indicating solar radiation pressure is likely not driving the observed dust behavior.
• JWST measurements indicate a CO2-dominated volatile mix of approximately 87% CO2, 9% CO, and 4% H2O, with separate observations reporting water outgassing up to about 40 kg/s.
• The authors discuss nickel–carbonyl formation as a potential natural pathway for the nickel concentration, while higher-resolution imaging from ESA’s Mars encounter, delayed NASA HiRISE releases, and planned JUICE and Juno observations are expected to refine interpretations.