The submissions continue:
Astrophysics > Earth and Planetary Astrophysics arxiv.org/abs/2508.00808
[Submitted on 1 Aug 2025]
Santana-Ros, T. Ivanova, O. Mykhailova, S. et al. Temporal Evolution of the Third Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS: Spin, Color, Spectra and Dust Activity
arxiv.org/abs/2508.02499
[Submitted on 4 Aug 2025]
Martinez-Palomera, J. Tuson, A. Hedges, C. et al. Pre-discovery TESS Observations of Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS
arxiv.org/abs/2508.02777
[Submitted on 4 Aug 2025]
Puzia, T. H. Rahatgaonkar, R. Carvajal, J. P. et al. Spectral Characteristics of Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS from SOAR Observations
arxiv.org/abs/2508.02934
[Submitted on 4 Aug 2025]
Jewitt, D. Hui, M-T. Mutchler, M. et al. Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Interstellar Interloper 3I/ATLAS
Again, please take the caveats in mind. These entries are, at best, preprints. Some have been accepted for publication in a ‘real’ (peer-reviewed, scientific) journal. However, that still leaves room for revisions- later drafts. Some of these arXiv papers can, should, and have been replaced with newer, better versions. This does not reflect well on the existing drafts.
At worst, some arXiv papers cannot and should not be accepted by journals. Since the vetting process of this site is a lower bar, papers may be lower quality, or simply speculation.
Fortunately, I think we can extend the authors here a little credit. At first read, they don’t appear too bad. Certainly, David Jewitt, Man-To Hui, and Max Mutchler are astronomers with reputations to lose. They did not win observing time on the (oversubscribed) Hubble telescope- much less Target of Opportunity time, even more precious- by being less than rigorous. Their results, then, display technical experience in comet studies, and are still well-couched in caveats.
On the other hand, Puzia et al. use the SOAR telescope, a mid-size-class observatory jointly funded by several pooled universities, plus Brazil and Chile. Still, it’s a commendable effort by younger researchers. If there’s any premature conclusion or outright speculation, I’m not seeing it.