Tootfinder

The Physics of Cometary Anti-tails as Observed in 3I/ATLAS
Eric Keto, Abraham Loeb
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.07771 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.07771…

The Physics of Cometary Anti-tails as Observed in 3I/ATLAS
Observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS at 3.8 au show an elongated coma similar to a cometary tail but pointing in the direction of the Sun. This type of anti-tail, not a result of perspective, may not have been previously observed. We explain the anti-tail as an anisotropic extension of the snow line, or survival radius of a sublimating ice grain, in the direction of the Sun. The anisotropy is due to the difference in the sublimation mass flux in the solar and perpendicular directions cau…