From Newsgroup: talk.origins
On 6/23/2026 10:01 AM, RonO wrote:
On 6/22/2026 7:15 PM, RonO wrote:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/interstellar-comet-3iatlas-oldest-object-
solar-system-study/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10771-6
The Nature article is not open access.
Comet 3I/ATLAS came from outside of our solar system and analysis of
what it is made of indicates that it would have formed in the cold at
a time when stellar production of elements heavier than hydrogen and
helium was still at low levels.-a They think that it would have formed
at a time around 12 billion years ago.-a It had to form in the cold to
retain the levels of deuterium that were detected as it passed through
our solar system.-a It has been on a very long journey through our Galaxy. >>
Ron Okimoto
This post did not show up on my Newsreader.-a Did it show up elsewhere? I have it in my Sent log.
Ron Okimoto
This post showed up faster than usual. Usually I have to close the
newsreader and restart before I get new posts, but this showed up when I
still had the Newsreader open just a minute or two after posting.
What is odd about what is claimed in the news article is the high levels
of carbon (methanol and carbon dioxide) in relation to the heavier
elements. I put up a paper a while ago that claimed that most of the
carbon in the universe had to have been created by stars like ours that
were too small to go supernova. These stars would eject their carbon as
they expanded during their red giant phase, and elements heavier than
iron would not have been created as they are during a supernova explosion.
The high levels of carbon existing 12 billion years ago likely indicate
that early in the universe formation of stars large enough to go
supernova was probably rare, and stars larger than our sun (but not
large enough to become supernova) had already become red giants in the
period of less than 2 billion years since the Big Bang and the formation
of this comet.
Ron Okimoto
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