JWST/MIRI Observations of Amorphous Silicates in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Abstract: We present JWST/MIRI Low Resolution Spectroscopy (LRS) of 3I/ATLAS obtained post-perihelion at a heliocentric distance of 2.21 au. Our spectrum contains a prominent 10 micron silicate emission feature with a broad, smooth shape that is distinct from those commonly observed in Solar System comets. We model the spectrum using thermal emission from amorphous carbon, amorphous olivine, and amorphous pyroxene grains. Our models strongly favor a pyroxene-dominated, amorphous silicate composition and show a degeneracy between silicate grain size and the relative abundance of silicate and carbon dust. Across a set of representative models, the best-fitting crystalline abundance is zero, and we place an upper limit of 5.3% on the crystalline fraction of the silicates. We identify an emission feature near 6.83 microns that is consistent with aliphatic C-H-bearing material. The overwhelmingly amorphous silicate composition supports previous work that measured unusual volatile and isotopic composition in suggesting that the material incorporated into the object experienced little thermal processing and preserves information about the conditions in which this interstellar planetesimal formed.