# Carbonyls alone miss the early nickel excess

> Modelling the whole trajectory, Hutsemékers and colleagues find carbonyl sublimation does not reproduce the early nickel excess and invoke a transient…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/3i-atlas/evidence/EVD0DFQ4K00TXQE/carbonyls-alone-miss-the-early-nickel-excess  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[3I/ATLAS](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/3i-atlas)Evidence

Evidence · 3I/ATLAS

# Carbonyls alone miss the early nickel excess

Modelling the whole trajectory, Hutsemékers and colleagues find carbonyl sublimation does not reproduce the early nickel excess and invoke a transient heat source at 100 to 140 K, perhaps amorphous ice crystallising; JWST later saw possible crystalline ice at 5.7 au.

Suggestive0

## What it means

Key question[What is 3I/ATLAS made of, and why is its chemistry so unlike a Solar System comet's?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/3i-atlas/questions/QST0DFQ0HS0K7SD/what-is-3i-atlas-made-of-and-why-is-its-chemistry-so-unlike)

No answer ahead yet

**Open** unchanged

Part of it[Why did nickel vapour appear around 3I/ATLAS without iron, so far from the Sun?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/3i-atlas/questions/QST0DFQ0SJDC3TY/why-did-nickel-vapour-appear-around-3i-atlas-without-iron-so)

2 answers, none ahead yet

**Open** unchanged

Answer this evidence bears on[A short-lived heat source released the early nickel](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/3i-atlas/answers/ANS0DFQ197S5Z8J/a-short-lived-heat-source-released-the-early-nickel)

Supports1 for, none against

**Still possible** was No evidence yet

What it implies
1.

The early nickel may date a change in the ice's structure.For: Why did nickel vapour appear around 3I/ATLAS without iron, so far from the Sun?

## Sources 2

[JWST Reveals Refractory-Rich Water Ice in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DFPWGSFRK24/jwst-reveals-refractory-rich-water-ice-in-interstellar-comet)

Protopapa et al. 2026

SRC

[Origin and evolution of NiI and FeI in the coma of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS throughout its trajectory](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DFPWGSFSQNQ/origin-and-evolution-of-nii-and-fei-in-the-coma-of-the)

Hutsemékers et al. 2026

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Carbonyls alone miss the early nickel excess [Evidence EVD0DFQ4K00TXQE]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DFQ4K00TXQE
```

Key

**EVD** 0DFQ4K00TXQE

Kind

Evidence

Tier

Suggestive

Found in

[Session 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/3i-atlas/sessions/SES0DFQC03S98K5/session-1-3i-atlas-opened-the-literature-to-november-2026) · 2 Nov 2026

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