Overview
- Breakthrough Listen observations with the Green Bank Telescope on December 18 detected no technosignature, setting a limit of roughly 0.1 W for any isotropic continuous-wave transmitter between 1 and 12 GHz.
- Hubble images from December 12 and 27 reveal two narrow jets—one stronger toward the Sun and a weaker counter jet—along with a slight wobble in the comet’s activity.
- High-resolution VLT spectra show a dust-dominated red coma with cyanogen and strong neutral nickel lines, no iron detection, and steeply rising CN and Ni production rates toward perihelion that fit low-energy release pathways.
- The object made its closest approach to Earth on December 19 at about 1.8 astronomical units and is now receding from the inner solar system.
- Researchers have reported age estimates of 8–14 billion years based on velocity modeling, raising the possibility of an origin around a star that may no longer exist.