ALMA Telescope Detects Alcohol in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

A visitor from beyond our solar system is carrying a chemical signature unlike anything astronomers have seen — and it's rewriting what we know about how planetary systems form across the Milky Way.

The Discovery That Changed Everything

When the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Chile flagged an unusual object on July 1, 2025, astronomers didn't yet know they were looking at a cosmic time capsule — one that had been drifting through interstellar space for billions of years [1]. Designated 3I/ATLAS (formally C/2025 N1), the object was quickly confirmed as the third interstellar visitor ever detected passing through our solar system, following the enigmatic 1I/'Oumuamua in 2017 and the cometary 2I/Borisov in 2019 [2].

But it was what came next — a series of observations using the world's most powerful millimeter-wave telescope — that truly stunned the scientific community. In March 2026, researchers led by Nathan Roth of American University announced that ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, had detected extraordinarily high concentrations of methanol in 3I/ATLAS's coma, making it one of the most alcohol-rich comets ever studied [3][4].

"Observing 3I/ATLAS is like taking a fingerprint from another solar system," Roth said. "The details reveal what it's made of, and it's bursting with methanol in a way we just don't usually see in comets in our own solar system" [5].

What ALMA Found: A Chemical Fingerprint from Another World

The observations were conducted using ALMA's Atacama Compact Array, a subset of the larger 66-antenna facility perched at 5,000 meters elevation on Chile's Chajnantor Plateau. On multiple dates in late 2025 — August 28, September 12, 15, 18, and 22, and October 1 — as the comet approached our Sun, the research team captured the faint submillimeter spectral fingerprints of two key molecules: methanol (CH₃OH), a type of alcohol, and hydrogen cyanide (HCN), a nitrogen-bearing organic molecule commonly found in comets [3][6].

The results were remarkable. On two observing dates, the team measured methanol-to-HCN production rate ratios of approximately 70 and 120 [3]. To put that in perspective, methanol comprised roughly 8 percent of 3I/ATLAS's total vapor — about four times the typical concentration found in our solar system's native comets, where methanol generally accounts for around 2 percent [7]. These ratios place 3I/ATLAS among the most methanol-enriched comets ever documented, surpassed only by the anomalous solar system comet C/2016 R2 (Pan-STARRS) [6][8].

Source: NRAO / Roth et al. (2025), arXiv:2511.20845

Data as of Mar 9, 2026CSV

A Comet with Two Sources of Alcohol

Perhaps as intriguing as the sheer abundance of methanol was where it was coming from. ALMA's spatial mapping revealed a dual-source outgassing pattern that had never before been traced in detail for an interstellar object [3].

Hydrogen cyanide appeared to originate predominantly from the comet's nucleus — the solid, icy core — which is typical behavior for solar system comets. Methanol, however, was streaming from two locations simultaneously: the nucleus itself and tiny ice particles suspended in the coma, the diffuse cloud of gas and dust surrounding the comet's core [4][5].

These microscopic icy grains, researchers explained, essentially act as "mini-comets." As 3I/ATLAS moved closer to the Sun and temperatures rose, the grains sublimated — turning directly from ice to gas — and released their own payload of methanol into the coma. This distributed source of methanol is a critical piece of the puzzle, because it suggests the comet's icy material was not homogeneous but rather layered with methanol-rich ice particles, hinting at complex formation processes in its birth environment [3][6].

A Fossil From the Ancient Galaxy

The ALMA methanol detection is only the latest chapter in a rapidly evolving scientific story. Since its discovery in mid-2025, 3I/ATLAS has been scrutinized by virtually every major observatory on Earth and in space, each adding new layers of understanding.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observed the comet in August 2025 and found its coma dominated by carbon dioxide gas, with a CO₂/H₂O mixing ratio of 7.6 ± 0.3 — among the highest ever measured in any comet [9]. JWST also detected small amounts of water ice, water vapor, carbon monoxide, and carbonyl sulfide. More provocatively, the water in 3I/ATLAS was found to be heavily enriched in deuterium, with a D/H ratio of 0.79 ± 0.07%, more than an order of magnitude higher than in any known solar system comet [9].

The carbon isotopic ratios told an even more dramatic story. With ¹²C/¹³C values ranging from 144–196 for CO₂ and 129–179 for CO — well above typical solar system values — the isotopic fingerprint pointed to formation in an extremely cold environment, at temperatures below approximately 30 Kelvin, in a relatively metal-poor region of the early Galaxy [9]. When cross-referenced with models of galactic chemical evolution, these isotope ratios suggest 3I/ATLAS accreted its icy material roughly 10–12 billion years ago, following an early period of intense star formation [9].

This makes the comet a preserved fragment of an ancient planetary system — a relic that predates our own Sun by some 5–7 billion years.

Source: Loeb (2025); NASA; JWST isotopic analysis

Data as of Mar 9, 2026CSV

How 3I/ATLAS Compares to Its Interstellar Siblings

The three confirmed interstellar objects paint a picture of remarkable diversity. 1I/'Oumuamua, discovered in 2017, was a small (~100-meter), elongated body with no visible coma, initially mistaken for an asteroid. Its non-gravitational acceleration sparked intense debate, including controversial suggestions of artificial origin [10]. 2I/Borisov, spotted in 2019, was more familiar — a classically cometary object roughly 400 meters across, with carbon monoxide emission and a composition broadly resembling solar system comets [10].

3I/ATLAS dwarfs both predecessors. Hubble Space Telescope observations constrained its nucleus to between 440 meters and 5.6 kilometers across, with later post-perihelion analysis settling on an effective diameter of approximately 2.6 ± 0.4 kilometers [2][11]. It reached perihelion on October 29, 2025, passing within 1.36 AU of the Sun — roughly between the orbits of Earth and Mars [11].

Galactic trajectory analysis reveals that the three objects also differ dramatically in age and origin within the Milky Way. 1I/'Oumuamua, approximately 1 billion years old, originated from the galaxy's thin disk where new stars still form. 2I/Borisov, about 1.7 billion years old, also came from the thin disk. But 3I/ATLAS, with a median estimated age of 4.6 billion years based on kinematic analysis — and potentially 10–12 billion years based on isotopic evidence — originated from the galaxy's thick disk, a more ancient stellar population [10].

The Ingredients for Life, Delivered from Afar

The astrobiological implications of the ALMA findings are significant. Methanol and hydrogen cyanide are not just chemical curiosities — they are essential precursor molecules for the formation of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins and, ultimately, life as we know it [7][12].

The fact that an interstellar object carries these molecules in such abundance raises a tantalizing possibility: that the raw ingredients for biochemistry may be widespread across the galaxy, delivered to young planetary systems by cometary impacts regardless of local formation conditions. NASA observations had already confirmed that 3I/ATLAS was carrying "ingredients for life" in unusual abundance, including significant quantities of nickel (emitted at 4.6 ± 0.7 grams per second) and cyanide (17.6 ± 2.0 grams per second) detected by the Very Large Telescope [12][13].

The high methanol concentration specifically suggests that the comet formed in an environment where ice chemistry on grain surfaces was particularly active — likely a cold, dense molecular cloud where hydrogenation reactions on dust grains converted carbon monoxide into methanol at rates exceeding what occurred in our own solar nebula [7][3].

What This Tells Us About Planetary Formation Across the Galaxy

The implications extend beyond astrobiology. Each chemical measurement of 3I/ATLAS is effectively a data point about conditions in a distant, ancient planetary system that humans may never directly observe.

"These measurements imply that the icy material from 3I/ATLAS was formed by — or experienced — very different conditions than those that shape most comets in our own solar system," the research team concluded [3]. The comet likely originated in a low-metallicity star system, shaped in a region where starlight was dimmer and temperatures lower — possibly the outer disk of a distant, low-mass star [13].

The contrast with 2I/Borisov is instructive. While Borisov's composition was broadly consistent with solar system comets — suggesting a degree of chemical universality in planet formation — 3I/ATLAS breaks that pattern decisively. Its extreme methanol enrichment, CO₂ dominance, deuterium enhancement, and anomalous carbon isotope ratios collectively demonstrate that the conditions for planet and comet formation vary significantly across different stellar environments and different epochs of galactic history [9][10].

As astronomers continue to discover interstellar objects — survey telescopes like the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory are expected to detect several per year — each new visitor will add to an emerging comparative chemistry of the galaxy's planetary systems. The ALMA observations of 3I/ATLAS represent a landmark in that effort: the first detailed mapping of alcohol outgassing physics in an interstellar object, and a demonstration that even a single comet can carry transformative insights about cosmic chemistry.

The Road Ahead

As of March 2026, 3I/ATLAS is moving past Jupiter, having made its closest approach to the giant planet on March 16 at a distance of 0.36 AU [11]. The comet continues to be monitored as it begins its long journey back into interstellar space — a journey from which it will never return.

But the data it has already delivered will keep scientists busy for years. The ALMA methanol study, posted on the arXiv preprint server, represents just one thread of an unprecedented multi-wavelength campaign involving JWST, Hubble, the Very Large Telescope, Keck, ESA's Juice spacecraft, and dozens of ground-based facilities [3][9][14]. Each observation peels back another layer of this ancient cosmic traveler.

For the first time, humanity has not merely spotted an interstellar interloper — it has read its molecular autobiography. And the story it tells is of a universe where the chemical building blocks of life are mixed, frozen, and flung across the galaxy in proportions we are only beginning to understand.