Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Came From a Place Nothing Like Our Solar System

A University of Michigan-led study in Nature Astronomy found interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has unusually deuterium-rich water.

Its deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio is about 30 times higher than in typical solar system comets.

The chemistry suggests the comet formed in an extremely cold, low-radiation region of space.

The finding offers a rare clue to how planetary systems can form under conditions very different from our own.