Technology & Science

Scientists Spot Methanol-Rich Cryovolcanoes on Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

New December 2025 observations show 3I/ATLAS blasting dual ice-volcano jets and venting record methanol levels, marking the first time such complex, metal-driven activity has been seen on a visitor from outside the solar system.

By Priya CastellanoDecember 9, 2025

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ALMA data (Cordiner et al.) measured ~40 kg s⁻¹ of methanol—about 8 % of the coma—plus 0.25–0.5 kg s⁻¹ of HCN near the nucleus.
Joan Oró Telescope imaging during perihelion captured simultaneous tails and an ‘anti-tail’, attributed to CO₂-triggered cryovolcanic jets described in a Dec 2025 arXiv preprint.
ESA’s JUICE probe flew within 66 million km on 4 Nov 2025, photographing a 40,000 km-wide coma; full multispectral data will download in Feb 2026.

Astronomers haven’t been this startled by a comet since Halley’s 1910 pass terrified and thrilled Earth with cyanogen gas headlines; yet, unlike Halley, 3I/ATLAS will never return, making each byte of data singular. Its methanol-rich, metal-laced cryovolcanism hints that widely dispersed organic chemistry pre-dates our Sun, echoing 2I/Borisov’s 2019 CO-heavy signature but pushing the envelope toward active geology. Long-term, such interstellar samples test panspermia notions and refine models of planetesimal formation under extreme cold; on a 100-year horizon, they prepare humanity for rapid-response missions to the expected dozens of interstellar wanderers upcoming as survey sensitivity rises, shifting small-body science from parochial solar-system cataloguing to comparative galactic archaeology.

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