00:00The Cosmic Messenger That Fooled Us
00:023IATLAS arrived as big news, the third interstellar object ever detected in our solar system.
00:10Early calculations, based on ground observations, suggested a giant up to 20 kilometers in diameter.
00:17Its impressive size sparked the imagination, with some even speculating it could be an alien spacecraft.
00:24But as always, science had the final say.
00:26The initial estimates were inflated because they could untie distinguish the comet S-tiny nucleus
00:32from the massive cloud of dust and gas surrounding it, known as the coma.
00:37Then the Hubble Space Telescope stepped in.
00:39With its precision, Hubble brought us back to reality.
00:43The icy nucleus, in fact, measures a maximum of 5.6 kilometers and could be as small as 320 meters.
00:50That's between 4 and 60 times smaller than first believed.
00:54Contrary to initial speculations, 3IATLAS behaves like a classic comet.
01:01Hubble showed us that it expels dust and gas asymmetrically from the side facing the sun,
01:06creating a luminous fan, just like comets in our own solar system.
01:10Its mass loss rate is similar to that of any other comet,
01:14confirming it's a conventional astronomical object, not an anomalous visitor.
01:18This new size fits better into our cosmological models
01:22and helps us understand why we VA detected so few interstellar objects so far.
01:27In fact, its size places it in the same category as 2I Horosov.
01:33Another comet from outside our solar system, but 3IATLAS, has revealed even more surprises.
01:40Water has been detected in its coma,
01:41and scientists estimate that over 20% of its surface is active.
01:46This is a higher level of activity than many comets in our system at similar distances.
01:51However, common cometary gases like cyanogen have not been detected.
01:56The absence of this gas supports a fascinating theory.
01:593IATLAS formed in a low-metallicity environment
02:02during the early stages of its home star system S formation,
02:06traveling at 209,000 kilometers per hour.
02:083IATLAS continues its journey through our solar system.
02:14It has become a priority target for more advanced telescopes like the James Webb.
02:18Every new observation is invaluable,
02:20as these messengers from other star systems help us understand the formation and evolution of planets.
02:26So, while 3IATLAS may not have been the giant alien that was first imagined,
02:31it has proven to be an even more fascinating piece in the puzzle of our cosmic origins.
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