Experts are surprised by this characteristic. Normally a comet is mainly characterized by the emissions of water and carbon monoxide, but in the case of 3I/Atlas, carbon dioxide dominates gas development. According to the Harvard-Astrophysicist Avie Loeb, the mass loss of water is only five percent of carbon dioxide emissions, which is more extreme for a typical comet sixteen times.
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This exceptional composition suggests that 3i/Atlas has been compiled in an artificial way. Loeb states in a blog post on medium that a relatively thin outer layer can be sufficient to maintain the observed carbon dioxide cloud, while the internal structure of the object remains unknown.
Furthermore, it is striking that 3i/Atlas has no tail, which comets normally have. The object is also much larger than the rocks that are normally found in the room. According to Loeb, this may indicate that 3i/Atlas did not naturally arise in space, but that his job was designed to reach the inner solar system.
3i/Atlas passes earth
The object will pass close to the earth on October 30, just 209 million kilometers away. However, the object will disappear behind the sun at that time, so that the best observation moment is lost. The chance of such a close pass of an interstellar object is estimated by Loeb as exceptionally small.