Peter1469
10-28-2017, 05:07 AM
Mysterious object seen speeding past sun could be 'visitor from another star system' (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/27/mysterious-object-detected-speeding-past-the-sun-could-be-from-another-solar-system-a2017-u1)
This asteroid seems to be the first verified space rock to come from another solar system. That is pretty wild that an asteroid could escape the gravity well of its home solar system.
A mysterious object detected hurtling past our sun could be the first space rock traced back to a different solar system, according to astronomers tracking the body.
While other objects have previously been mooted as having interstellar origins, experts say the latest find, an object estimated to be less than 400m in diameter, is the best contender yet.
The exciting thing about this is that this may be essentially a visitor from another star system, said Dr Edward Bloomer, astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
If its origins are confirmed as lying beyond our solar system, it will be the first space rock known to come from elsewhere in the galaxy.
Published in the minor planet electronic circulars (http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K17/K17UI1.html)by the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the observations reveal that the object is in a strong hyperbolic orbit in other words, it is going fast enough to escape the gravitational pull of the sun.
This asteroid seems to be the first verified space rock to come from another solar system. That is pretty wild that an asteroid could escape the gravity well of its home solar system.
A mysterious object detected hurtling past our sun could be the first space rock traced back to a different solar system, according to astronomers tracking the body.
While other objects have previously been mooted as having interstellar origins, experts say the latest find, an object estimated to be less than 400m in diameter, is the best contender yet.
The exciting thing about this is that this may be essentially a visitor from another star system, said Dr Edward Bloomer, astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
If its origins are confirmed as lying beyond our solar system, it will be the first space rock known to come from elsewhere in the galaxy.
Published in the minor planet electronic circulars (http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K17/K17UI1.html)by the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the observations reveal that the object is in a strong hyperbolic orbit in other words, it is going fast enough to escape the gravitational pull of the sun.