A small mysterious object, with the assigned name A/2017 U1, was recently observed racing through our solar system.
U.S. scientists believe the visitor could have been an asteroid or a comet from deep space. The experts said the object could possibly mark the first interstellar visitor to our solar system.
“We have been waiting for this day for decades,” said the manager of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA's) Center for Near Earth Object Studies, Paul Chodas.
The object, which reportedly had a mass of a quarter mile or 400 meters in diameter, was easily identified because of its extreme orbit, near where the planets and other asteroids orbit the sun.
“It’s long been theorized that such objects exist – asteroids or comets moving around between the stars and occasionally passing through our solar system – but this is the first such detection,” Chodas explained.
The unidentified visitor, which clocked speeds of 5 miles per second, crossed outside Mercury’s orbit on Sept. 2 before its direction was altered, by the sun’s gravity, into a sharp turn under our solar system. The behavioral pattern of the object is not representative of any space rock native to our solar system.
The closest the object came to Earth was within 15 million miles of the planet, on Oct. 14.
“It is going extremely fast and on such a trajectory that we can say with confidence that this object is on its way out of the solar system and not coming back,” NASA’s Davide Farnocchia said.
The scientists further explained that naming rules will likely be established, by the International Astronomical Union, if the object is formalized as being the first of its kind spotted from Earth.
NASA is yet to definitively identify the mystery object or pinpoint its origin.
“So far, everything indicates this is likely an interstellar object, but more data would help confirm,” Chodas said.
The object does not pose any immediate threat and appears to be headed toward the Pegasus constellation on its way out of our solar system.