Sublimation of H ₂ O Molecules from Interstellar and Dynamically New Comets: Case Study of 3I/ATLAS

Abstract

Comets are often characterized by their production of H ₂ O molecules, whose quantity is further used to constrain the fraction of active area of their nuclei. The latter retrieval is based on a theory developed half century ago. We evaluate it, suggesting improvements in light of more recent models developed to evaluate lunar temperature. We take into account the difference in temperature of the outermost surface layer and the internal volume of the nucleus and the energy exchange between these two parts via thermal emission. The resulting equation takes on a simple form for dynamically new and interstellar comets due to the extremely low temperature of their interior volume. We apply this new approach to the interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS. The result is a significant increase in the active area of the nucleus needed to reproduce the production of H ₂ O molecules observed in Comet 3I/ATLAS.

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BibTeX

@article{zubko2026sublimation,
  title = {{Sublimation of H ₂ O Molecules from Interstellar and Dynamically New Comets: Case Study of 3I/ATLAS}},
  author = {Evgenij Zubko and Gorden Videen and Sungsoo S. Kim},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa5c},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa5c},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Sublimation of H ₂ O Molecules from Interstellar and Dynamically New Comets: Case Study of 3I/ATLAS
AU  - Evgenij Zubko
AU  - Gorden Videen
AU  - Sungsoo S. Kim
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/21
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa5c
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa5c
AB  - Comets are often characterized by their production of H ₂ O molecules, whose quantity is further used to constrain the fraction of active area of their nuclei. The latter retrieval is based on a theory developed half century ago. We evaluate it, suggesting improvements in light of more recent models developed to evaluate lunar temperature. We take into account the difference in temperature of the outermost surface layer and the internal volume of the nucleus and the energy exchange between these two parts via thermal emission. The resulting equation takes on a simple form for dynamically new and interstellar comets due to the extremely low temperature of their interior volume. We apply this new approach to the interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS. The result is a significant increase in the active area of the nucleus needed to reproduce the production of H ₂ O molecules observed in Comet 3I/ATLAS.
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
ER  -

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