JWST Reveals Refractory-Rich Water Ice in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS: Evidence for a Continuum of Grain Properties across Protoplanetary Disks

arXiv:2609.19286 · astro-ph.EP, astro-ph.GA · Submitted 2026-09-16 · Read on arXiv

astro-ph.EP, astro-ph.GA

Submitted: 2026-09-16

Updated: 2026-09-16

Comments: 22 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aea60d

License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/

Terminology

• Abundance — 9× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
• Aperture — 8× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
• Robustness — 5× in this paper · explained in 5 episodes
• 1 µm Feature — 3× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
• Bayesian Information Criterion — 2× in this paper
• Calibration — 2× in this paper · explained in 7 episodes
• Aperture Correction — 1× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
• Degeneracy — 1× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
• Markov Chain Monte Carlo — 1× in this paper
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 1× in this paper

Sources

• Isotopic Evidence for a Cold and Distant Origin of the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS
• Assessment of the Mass Loss and Radius Change of 3I/ATLAS Based on Observed Production Rates

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