Confirm whether 3I/ATLAS is an ancient undifferentiated body retaining primitive outer-disk materials

Establish whether interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is an ancient, largely undifferentiated body that retains primitive outer-disk materials, as hypothesized from its spectral properties and similarities with CR chondrite spectra.

Background

In the spectral comparison section, the authors discuss similarities between 3I/ATLAS and CR chondrites, which are thought to preserve primitive outer Solar System materials. They propose that 3I may retain such materials but explicitly state that this cannot be directly confirmed with current observations.

Direct confirmation would require compositional measurements or sampling capable of distinguishing undifferentiated primitive materials, and would clarify 3I/ATLAS’s formation environment and evolutionary history.