Methanol-Rich 3I/ATLAS: A Chemical Fingerprint of an Interstellar Visitor

To the point

3I/ATLAS is an interstellar visitor with unusually abundant methanol in its gas—more than in almost any known comet—detected by ALMA as its icy surface warmed, which could be a chemical signature from another star system, though the cause is uncertain and may stem from a colder region in its home system or exposure to cosmic rays during its 7-billion-year voyage, and it’s only the third interstellar object observed in our solar system, having skimmed past Earth near Christmas.