We report the detection of HCN($J=3-2$) rotational emission from comet 3I/ATLAS at a heliocentric distance of 2.13 au with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). Observations were conducted between 2025 August 7 and 2025 September 14 (ut) using the ^\, Ū\, ^\, ū heterodyne receiver and ACSIS (Auto Correlation Spectral Imaging System) spectroscopic backend. The HCN line was detected at > 6 σ on 2025 September 14 (ut) and a production rate of Q( HCN)=(4.0± 1.7)× 10²⁵ s⁻¹ was derived by non-LTE radiative transfer modelling. Preliminary estimates of the HCN/H₂O and CN/HCN abundance ratios suggest values similar to Solar system comets.
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Coulson et al. (2026) studied this question.
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