09-10-2025, 01:44 PM
Quote:This polarimetric behavior is significantly different from all known comets, either interstellar or those bound to the Solar System, not fitting into either the high or low-polarization comet categories. The combination of low inversion angle and extreme negative polarization is unprecedented among comets and asteroids, marking 3I/ATLAS the first object known with such polarimetric behavior and representing a previously unobserved population.
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/extreme-nega...d01d13d5c7
I think this is going to be a learning experience for us as far as interstellar objects go, but probably won't be much else.
Does seem kind of strange that we're seeing so many of these objects in such a small span of time...
Just the same as the asteroid belt, there are debris fields in interstellar space that we travel through, and they're probably less common, which is why we haven't seen any action like this before.
