Manhattan-sized interstellar object is covered in a layer of CO2. shocking scientists, NASA images reveal

The Manhattan-sized interstellar object rocketing through Earth’s inner solar system is covered by a cloud of carbon dioxide, a characteristic that shocked experts, according to an analysis of brand new images.

Both the James Webb Space Telescope and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory observatory SPHEREx snapped new images of 3I/ATLAS this week, almost two months after it was first spotted in the skies above Chile.

An image of 3I/ATLAS taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA

3I/ATLAS glows red in the new images with a seemingly threatening aura, though most scientists believe the object to be merely a 12-mile-wide interstellar comet.

The snaps showed that 3I/ATLAS is “outgassing” as it approaches the Sun, which was expected. However, the object is dumping out a conspicuous amount of carbon dioxide and a surprisingly small amount of water and carbon monoxide, according to experts, including Harvard astrophysicist Avie Loeb.

“The H2O mass loss rate is only 5% of the CO2 output. This is 16 times more extreme than expected for a typical comet at the same distance from the Sun,” Loeb wrote in a Medium post Tuesday.

Images of 3I/ATLAS taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA

The object is shrouded in a layer of CO2, preventing deeper observation of what it is constitutionally composed of, according to Loeb.

The amount of the gas lost off the object as it travels is just a minuscule fraction of its overall massive size — possibly indicating that the design could be intentional.

“The CO2 mass loss amounts to the ablation of a millimeter thick layer from the surface of a 46-kilometer object over a period of a few years.”

“In other words, a relatively thin outer layer is sufficient to maintain the observed cloud of CO2 gas around 3I/ATLAS. What lies under this outer skin remains unknown,” Loeb wrote.

Loeb noted that these new images reinforce that 3I/ATLAS has no tail, which comets typically have, and further reinforced his claim that the object is too large to have naturally occurred in space.

An artist’s rendition of the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA/AFP via Getty Images

“A way to resolve the discrepancy between the mass reservoir of rocks in interstellar space and the unexpected discovery of a large object, is that 3I/ATLAS was not drawn from a population of rocks on random trajectories but instead — its trajectory was designed to target the inner Solar system,” he wrote.

3I/ATLAS will become closest to Earth on October 30, whizzing by just 130 million miles away. Strangely, it is just at this moment that the object will pass behind the Sun, preempting the best window of observation from our Pale Blue Dot.

Previously, Loeb has argued that the likelihood that an interstellar object of this size would travel so close to Earth is in the fractions of a percent.

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