Post-perihelion image of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, taken on November 5, 2025 by the R. Naves Observatory, shows a fuzzy ball of light with no clear cometary tail.
Here's the Loeb writeup about it: https://avi-loeb.medium.com/no-clear-cometary-tail-in-post-perihelion-images-of-3i-atlas-e3904b352a7a
Loeb estimates that the object would have needed to lose approximately 13% of its mass to account for the non gravitational acceleration (based on a cometary model).
And here's a fun video from the Angry Astronaut where he calculated that the non gravitational acceleration witnessed, based on estimated mass, would require approximately 9 SpaceX Starship engines worth of thrust applied for an entire day: https://youtu.be/dUWf4Z3L41I
by diabloredshift
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Submission statement: Post-perihelion image of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, taken on November 5, 2025 by the R. Naves Observatory, shows a fuzzy ball of light with no clear cometary tail.
Here’s the Loeb writeup about it: https://avi-loeb.medium.com/no-clear-cometary-tail-in-post-perihelion-images-of-3i-atlas-e3904b352a7a
Loeb estimates that the object would have needed to lose approximately 13% of its mass to account for the non gravitational acceleration (based on a cometary model).
And here’s a fun video from the Angry Astronaut where he calculated that the non gravitational acceleration witnessed, based on estimated mass, would require approximately 9 SpaceX Starship engines worth of thrust applied for an entire day: https://youtu.be/dUWf4Z3L41I