India, Nov. 9 -- The mysterious interstellar object 3I/ATLAS appears to have challenged conventional notions about comets. Recent images taken on November 5 from the R. Naves Observatory in Spain show no visible tail, a hallmark feature of comets after they swing close to the Sun.

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Astrophysicists say this lack of a tail presents a challenge to conventional comet models. Under typical solar heating, a comet should produce a massive "coma" of gas and dust that is then blown into a tail over 13 % of its mass, according to calculations published by Harvard's astrophysicist Avi Loeb on Medium.

He told The New York Post that if 3I/ATLAS continues to sho...