Fiorangela La Forgia

Origin and evolution of NiI and FeI in the coma of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS throughout its trajectory

We present high-resolution UVES+VLT observations of neutral nickel (NiI) and iron (FeI) atoms in the coma of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS taken after perihelion at heliocentric distances (r_h) ranging from 1.88 to 4.35 au. Metal emission was strong shortly after perihelion and...