Overview
- A Breakthrough Listen search with the Green Bank Telescope on December 18 found no credible narrowband transmissions from 3I/ATLAS, placing a limit of roughly 0.1 watts for isotropic continuous-wave emitters across 1–12 GHz.
- Hubble images from December 12 and 27 reveal two narrow, oppositely directed jets and a slight wobble in the comet’s emission, consistent with irregular rotation and localized activity on the nucleus.
- High-resolution VLT spectroscopy from July–August shows a dust-dominated, red continuum with CN and unexpectedly strong neutral nickel lines, while iron was not detected, pointing to nonstandard release mechanisms from grains.
- Europa Clipper and ESA’s JUICE captured observations during the period when Earth- and Mars-based views were limited, with UV spectrographs targeting the comet’s tails and composition; analyses are expected in coming months.
- Scientists continue to assess origin and population implications as the object recedes, while public claims of extreme ages or trillion-object populations are presented as speculative rather than established results.