First Glimpses of Interstellar Comet Suggest It's Not So Different

Astronomers are rushing to study first known interstellar comet – and in some of the earliest observations, it looks oddly familiar.

The object, currently dubbed Comet C / 2019 Q4, was first spotted on Aug. 30. Follow-up observations of its path that the comet is skimming through our neighborhood on a one-way journey, not trapped in the looping orbits of our own solar system. That would make it only the second confirmed interstellar object, after 'Oumuamua, which was spotted in 2017.

Oumuamua was made of. With this object, however, they can get such reading, by measuring the light signature of the gunk surrounding the comet. Some of the first of these spectra for C / 2019 Q4 are in, and they look very similar to the spectra of a class of objects in our solar system. This suggests that these objects and the interstellar visitor consist of more or less the same stuff.

Related: Interstellar Comet: Here's Why It's Got Scientists So Pumped Up

"Javier Licandro, an astronomer at the Institute for Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, said in a statement. "They may have formed into the formation of the Oort Cloud comets in the solar system."

Tea Oort Cloud is the spherical shell of icy bodies encasing our solar system at huge distances from the sun. We see comets when they get kicked out of the cloud and travel closer to the heart of our solar system. They grow their trademark fuzzy tails when the sun's radiation vaporizes the most volatile ingredients of the comet.

Scientists have spotted comets ricocheting across other solar systems before, but the objects are tricky to study over such vast distances. While 'Oumuamua was definitely interstellar, it did not carry the telltale cometary blur. The author and the author of the Institute for Astrophysics of the Canaries were able to study.

The team used a telescope in the Canary Islands to image the comet on Sept. Initial analyzes of those spectra suggest that they align with those of a specific group of solar system objects. That could mean that the solar system where the object of the recipe is rather similar to that of our own solar system and its comets.

And scientists have plenty of time to gather the many observations they will need to understand and understand. Unlike when 'Oumuamua was discovered, astronomers believe they still have a full year during which they can observe the comet from Earth.

Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.