The Solar Wind Anisotropies all-sky hydrogen Lyman-alpha camera on the Solar and Heliosphere Observatory observed the hydrogen coma of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, also called C/2025 N1 (ATLAS), beginning on 2025 November 6, 9 days after perihelion. Water production rates were calculated from each image of 3I/ATLAS using the methodology of J. T. T. Mäkinen and M. R. Combi, and fluorescence rates and g-factors were calculated using the daily solar Lyman-alpha fluxes from the LASP database ( https://lasp.colorado.edu/lisird/data ) corrected for solar rotation and for the comet’s heliocentric velocity. The method has been used for over 90 comet apparitions. A water production rate of 3.17 × 10 ^29 s ^−1 was found on November 6 when the comet was at a heliocentric distance of 1.40 au and at a sufficient solar elongation angle. It decreased over time after that, down to 1–2 × 10 ^28 s ^−1 around 40 days postperihelion (December 9).
Interstellar objects provide the only directly observable samples of icy planetesimals formed around other stars, and can therefore provide insight into the diversity of physical and chemical conditions occurring during exoplanet formation. Here we report isotopic measurements of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which reveal an elemental composition unlike any Solar System body. The water in 3I/ATLAS is enriched in deuterium, at a level of D/H = (0.95 +- 0.06)
In the future interstellar exploration at near-relativistic speeds will be possible using beamed energy laser propulsion. With this, spacecraft as small as gm mass picospacecraft become candidates for the exploration of deep space, with a trade space of velocity and mission duration versus mass. Here, we examine the potential science return from interstellar expeditions with Coracle laser-sail picospacecraft swarms and show how even with fast flybys at near relativistic velocities, a picospacecraft swarm could deliver gigapixel resolution of the target exoplanets. Our mission target is the planet Proxima b in the habitable zone (HZ) of the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, the tertiary (and nearest) component of the nearest star system, α Centauri. We explore science returns from such an expedition, both en route to Proxima and at the Proxima system, and conclude that initial small spacecraft expeditions would provide a substantial science return, including the ability to detect surface biology or a technological civilization, should either or both be established on the target planet.
Modern astronomical surveys produce large volumes of imaging data together with highly accurate astrometric and photometric reference catalogues, creating a need for automated, robust, and instrument-independent reduction pipelines. We present PhoPS (Photometry and Astrometry of Point Sources), an open-source Python pipeline for fully automated astrometric calibration and photometric reduction of stellar and moving Solar System targets. PhoPS dynamically generates local Gaia DR3 astrometric index files propagated to the observation epoch, eliminating the need for pre-installed index collections while improving astrometric accuracy. Photometric calibration uses a field-dependent zero-point model based on Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) linear regression to account for spatial systematics such as vignetting and detector non-uniformities. Astrometric performance was evaluated using 141672 matched measurements from 840 images obtained with the 1 m TUG100 telescope. Epoch propagation reduced the clipped N-weighted total RMS residual from 0.284 arcsec to 0.241 arcsec, a 15.0
We investigate galaxies in the GARDEN (Galaxies at All Redshifts Deciphered and Explained with the NIRSpec MSA) survey that show auroral emission lines, enabling spatially resolved measurements of electron temperature and direct oxygen abundances. Two galaxies have spectra suitable for this analysis: CANDELS 8005 at z=3.794 and CANDELS 7986 at z=4.702. For both, we measure auroral and key nebular emission-line fluxes across their full extent, allowing direct-method oxygen abundance determinations in individual spaxels. These observations demonstrate the viability of deep JWST/NIRSpec MSA spectroscopy for spatially resolved chemical analyses at high redshift, aided by weak nebular continua and low interstellar extinction. We derive global direct abundances of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.008 (+0.025, -0.027) for CANDELS 8005 and 7.89 (+0.027, -0.028) for CANDELS 7986. Emission-line diagnostics indicate neither galaxy hosts an active galactic nucleus. A first-order kinematic analysis suggests a potential merger in CANDELS 8005. The direct abundances agree with strong-line estimates from our data and recent high-redshift calibrations. We build emission line, radial velocity, strong-line abundance, electron temperature, and direct abundance maps for both galaxies. From these maps, we measure linear radial metallicity gradients of -0.111 (+0.026, -0.025) dex/kpc for CANDELS 8005 (statistically significant) and -0.093 +/- 0.088 dex/kpc for CANDELS 7986, where the large uncertainties limit significance. These results represent the first detection of a radial metallicity gradient from direct-method abundances with measurements taken in galaxies at z>0, supporting inside-out galaxy growth with feedback-regulated chemical enrichment.
