This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

Astronomers are e'er tracking asteroids and comets in space nearly World, and some of them are from unfathomably far away in the outer solar organisation. Nonetheless, scientists may have spotted the outset such object that'southward from someplace even more distant–another solar system. The mysterious object known merely as A/2017 U1 was spotted earlier this month, and the team believes it is extra-solar in origin.

Scientists have been specifically looking for something like this for decades. The discovery was made by a researcher at the Academy of Hawaii Found for Astronomy. The object was start spotted by astronomer Rob Weryk, who was reviewing images captured by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (see above). This musical instrument is designed to accept continuous images of the sky, which are useful for identifying asteroid and comets that motility relative to the backdrop of stars.

Weryk nearly dismissed the finding as only another well-nigh-World object, but he realized the motion didn't match that nomenclature. A/2017 U1 was moving through the solar arrangement at a fantastic speed of 55 miles per second relative to the sun. It'south going then fast that the dominicus'due south gravity wasn't even able to capture it. That's incredibly interesting, of course, but information technology also ways we won't be seeing A/2017 U1 once more. Information technology's on its way out of the solar arrangement after being deflected by the sunday.

A/2017 U1 is on the small side–about a quarter mile across (400 meters). It appears to take entered our corner of the galaxy from above the plane of the solar system, in the direction of the constellation Lyra. It crossed the aeroplane between Mercury and Venus on September 2d, at which time the sun's gravity bent its trajectory and ejected information technology from the solar system. The closest information technology came to Earth was xv million miles on October 14th. It lost a footling speed, now moving at roughly 25 miles per second. That'southward still plenty to escape the lord's day's gravity and return to deep space.

Unfortunately, the approach of the invader was blocked by the lord's day, so astronomers couldn't see it until recently. Scientists effectually the world are working out plans to get as many observations of A/2017 U1 washed before it's besides far away to see. In the coming weeks, nosotros could larn more nigh the object's composition and from where it came. It might have a completely different makeup compared with the asteroids and comets in our solar organization. Later all, those are the only ones nosotros've ever seen.