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According to an announcement by the Minor Planet Center, an amateur astronomer may have detected an object from outside our solar system.
Astronomers saw the first known interstellar object, called "Oumuamua", in 2017. Its hyperbolic orbit indicated that it had come a long way off and that it would not come back. Tons of speculation have followed about what the object could be, speculation including of course extraterrestrials. The newly spotted object would be the second interstellar visitor of this type, but there are many more observers to come.
An amateur astronomer, Gennady Borisov, first sighted the object on August 30, with the help of a telescope that he built himself. Other observations (and hype) followed. Today, the Minor Planet Center of the Center for Astrophysics has issued an official circular on this subject, now tentatively called C / 2019 Q4 (Borisov). If scientists confirm its interstellar nature, it will receive a new name beginning with 2I, designating it as the second interstellar object.
With more observations of the object, scientists began to calculate the shape of its orbit. These calculations seem to reveal that the trajectory has a hyperbolic shape – rather than the elliptical shape that characterizes the orbits of objects surrounding the Sun. The trajectory suggests that the object will eventually leave the solar system, never to return.
Astronomer Michele Bannister of the Queen's University Astrophysics Research Center tweeted other objects first had hyperbolic orbits, then resolved into more typical orbits once new observations are entered.
"Additional observations are clearly very desirable," reads the MPC circular.
Matthew Holman, director of the MPC, told Gizmodo that the object was near the Sun in the sky as seen from Earth, making the task difficult to observe and that astronomers had to pay attention to the potential effects of the atmosphere on their observations.
Interstellar objects are exciting because they probably carry information about what is happening elsewhere in the galaxy. The first interstellar visitor. 'Oumuamua. brought a lot of excitement; for some, its strange cigar-shaped shape seemed almost impossible. This new object will certainly bring its own hype and its own speculations (and, surely, more discussions about the extraterrestrials). But this is particularly exciting because astronomers will be able to make comparisons between him and 'Oumuamua. The first observations already reveal that the object is an active comet with a large temporary atmosphere, or coma, Holman said.
"In the absence of discoloration or unexpected disintegration, this object should be observed for at least a year," according to the circular. We look forward to learning more about this potential visitor in the coming months.
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