Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Interstellar Interloper 3I/ATLAS

TL;DR

This study uses Hubble Space Telescope data to analyze the activity, dust emission, and nucleus size of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, revealing its active state and constraining its physical properties.

Contribution

First high-resolution observations of 3I/ATLAS from Hubble, providing new insights into its activity and physical characteristics compared to prior limited data.

Findings

Active dust emission observed at 3.8 au pre-perihelion

Estimated dust mass loss rate between 12 and 120 kg/s

Nucleus radius constrained between 0.22 km and 2.8 km

Abstract

We present high angular resolution observations of the third known interstellar interloper, 3I/ATLAS, from the Hubble Space Telescope. The object is clearly active at 3.8 au pre-perihelion, showing dust emitted from the hot Sun-facing side of the nucleus and a weak, radiation pressure swept tail away from the Sun. We apply a simple model to estimate the mass loss rate in dust as dM/dt = 12 sqrt(a) kg/s, where a is the mean particle size in microns. With 1 < a < 100, we infer dM/dt = 12 to 120 kg/s. A fit to the surface brightness distribution of the inner coma limits the effective radius of the nucleus to be r < 2.8 km, assuming red geometric albedo 0.04. Conversely, the nucleus cannot be smaller than 0.22 km in radius if its coma is supplied by sublimation of carbon monoxide, and must be larger if a less volatile molecule drives the mass loss.