Methanol-Rich Interstellar Visitor 3I/ATLAS Reveals Diversity in Planet-Forming Disk Chemistry

To the point

3I/ATLAS, an interstellar visitor, shows a methanol-rich coma relative to HCN, a finding from measurements led by Nathan Roth, which suggests it formed in an unusually cold or well‑shielded region of its birth disk and implies planet-building ingredients vary across star systems, producing icy bodies with chemical inventories different from our own, with ALMA and Webb observations strengthening this view.