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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astronomical Journal

Spatial Profiles of 3I/ATLAS CN and Ni Outgassing from Keck/KCWI Integral Field Spectroscopy

  • Willem B. Hoogendam1
  • Benjamin J. Shappee1
  • James J. Wray1,2
  • Bin Yang3
  • Karen J. Meech1
  • Christopher Ashall1
  • Dhvanil D. Desai1
  • Kyle Hart1
  • Jason T. Hinkle1,4,5
  • Andrew Hoffman1
  • Esther M. Hu1
  • David O. Jones1
2 more authors
  • Kyle Medler1
  • Cameron M. Pfeffer1
5 affiliations
  1. 1University of Hawai‘i
  2. 2Georgia Institute of Technology
  3. 3Universidad Diego Portales
  4. 4University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  5. 5NSF-Simons AI Institute for the Sky (SkAI)
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Cometary activity from interstellar objects provides a unique window into the environs of other stellar systems. We report blue-sensitive integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS from the Keck II–mounted Keck Cosmic Web Imager on 2025 August 24 UT. We confirm the previously reported CN and Ni outgassing and, for the first time, present the radial profiles of Ni and CN emission in 3I/ATLAS. We find characteristic e -folding radii of 593.7 ± 14.8 km for Ni and 841.0 ± 15.4 km for CN; this suggests that the Ni emission is more centrally concentrated in the comet’s nucleus and favors hypotheses involving easily dissociated species, such as metal carbonyls or metal–polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. Additional integral field spectroscopy after perihelion will provide an ongoing opportunity to determine the evolution of the radial distributions of species in the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{hoogendam2026spatial,
  title = {{Spatial Profiles of 3I/ATLAS CN and Ni Outgassing from Keck/KCWI Integral Field Spectroscopy}},
  author = {Willem B. Hoogendam and Benjamin J. Shappee and James J. Wray and Bin Yang and Karen J. Meech and Christopher Ashall and Dhvanil D. Desai and Kyle Hart and Jason T. Hinkle and Andrew Hoffman and Esther M. Hu and David O. Jones and Kyle Medler and Cameron M. Pfeffer},
  journal = {The Astronomical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-3881/aeaff7},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aeaff7},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Spatial Profiles of 3I/ATLAS CN and Ni Outgassing from Keck/KCWI Integral Field Spectroscopy
AU  - Willem B. Hoogendam
AU  - Benjamin J. Shappee
AU  - James J. Wray
AU  - Bin Yang
AU  - Karen J. Meech
AU  - Christopher Ashall
AU  - Dhvanil D. Desai
AU  - Kyle Hart
AU  - Jason T. Hinkle
AU  - Andrew Hoffman
AU  - Esther M. Hu
AU  - David O. Jones
AU  - Kyle Medler
AU  - Cameron M. Pfeffer
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/05
JO  - The Astronomical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-3881/aeaff7
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aeaff7
AB  - Cometary activity from interstellar objects provides a unique window into the environs of other stellar systems. We report blue-sensitive integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS from the Keck II–mounted Keck Cosmic Web Imager on 2025 August 24 UT. We confirm the previously reported CN and Ni outgassing and, for the first time, present the radial profiles of Ni and CN emission in 3I/ATLAS. We find characteristic e -folding radii of 593.7 ± 14.8 km for Ni and 841.0 ± 15.4 km for CN; this suggests that the Ni emission is more centrally concentrated in the comet’s nucleus and favors hypotheses involving easily dissociated species, such as metal carbonyls or metal–polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. Additional integral field spectroscopy after perihelion will provide an ongoing opportunity to determine the evolution of the radial distributions of species in the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS.
SN  - 0004-6256
SN  - 1538-3881
ER  -