Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS continues to fascinate astronomers as it rips through our solar system. And the more we find out about the object — widely suspected to be an icy comet — the more questions emerge.

Latest among those mysteries: the Keck II telescope in Hawaii observed the object when it was just over 2.5 times the distance between the Earth and Sun back in August, and found “evidence for a puzzling anti-tail extension in the direction of the Sun,” as Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb wrote in a blog post last week.

In a recent paper that has yet to be peer reviewed, a team of astronomers used the Keck data to confirm “previously reported cyanide and nickel outgassing,” which are being emitted both in and against the direction of the Sun, which offers “clear evidence for an anti-tai

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