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1I/'Oumuamua (or 1I) and 2I/Borisov (or 2I), the first InterStellar Objects (ISOs) discovered passing through the solar system, have opened up entirely new areas of exobody research. Finding additional ISOs and planning missions to…

We present high resolution imaging observations of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov (formerly C/2019 Q4) obtained using the Hubble Space Telescope. Scattering from the comet is dominated by a coma of large particles (characteristic size 0.1…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-01-29 David Jewitt , Man-To Hui , Yoonyoung Kim , Max Mutchler , Harold Weaver , Jessica Agarwal

2I/Borisov is the second interstellar object (ISO) after 'Oumuamua (Meech et al. 2017), but differs from 'Oumuamua drastically with its extensive cometary activity. A key ingredient to understand the nature of this comet is its size.…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-12-13 Chien-Hsiu Lee , Hsing-Wen Lin , Ying-Tung Chen , Sheng-Feng Yen

The third interstellar object to be discovered, 3I/ATLAS, has a unique and continually unfolding story to tell about its nature and origin as it is monitored by telescopes on Earth, orbiting Earth and around the Solar System. Previous…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-01-22 Adam Hibberd , T. Marshall Eubanks , Andreas Hein

The first interstellar objects, 1I/`Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov and 3I/ATLAS, were discovered over the past decade. We follow the trajectories of known interstellar objects in the gravitational potential of the Milky Way galaxy to constrain their…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-08-08 Shokhruz Kakharov , Abraham Loeb

The first definite interstellar object observed in our solar system was discovered in October of 2017 and was subsequently designated 1I/'Oumuamua. In addition to its extrasolar origin, observations and analysis of this object indicate some…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2021-02-03 Adam Hibberd , Andreas M. Hein

Comet 2I/Borisov is the first true interstellar comet discovered. Here we present results from observational programs at two Indian observatories, 2 m Himalayan Chandra Telescope at the Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle (HCT) and 1.2 m…

The discovery of the first active interstellar object 2I/Borisov provides an unprecedented opportunity to study planetary formation processes in another planetary system. In particular, spectroscopic observations of 2I allow us to constrain…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-01-08 C. Opitom , A. Fitzsimmons , E. Jehin , Y. Moulane , O. Hainaut , K. J. Meech , B. Yang , C. Snodgrass , M. Micheli , J. V. Keane , Z. Benkhaldoun , J. T. Kleyna

In this paper, we review some of the extant literature on the study of interstellar objects (ISOs). With the forthcoming Vera C. Rubin Telescope and Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), we find that $0.38 - 84$ `Oumuamua-like…

Until now, only two Interstellar Objects (ISOs) have been discovered: 1I/'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. Despite a limited amount of observations, they present high scientific interest for the research community. In order to further analyze these…

Space Physics · Physics 2022-09-07 Laia López Llobet , Andreas M. Hein

Interstellar comets offer direct samples of volatiles from distant protoplanetary disks. 2I/Borisov is the first notably active interstellar comet discovered in our solar system[1]. Comets are condensed samples of the gas, ice, and dust…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-04-21 D. Bodewits , J. W. Noonan , P. D. Feldman , M. T. Bannister , D. Farnocchia , W. M. Harris , J. -Y. Li , K. E. Mandt , J. Wm. Parker , Z. Xing

Hubble Space Telescope observations of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov near perihelion show the ejection of large (>~100 um) particles at <~9 m/s speeds, with estimated mass-loss rates of ~35 kg/s. The total mass loss from comet Borisov…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-06-10 Yoonyoung Kim , David Jewitt , Max Mutchler , Jessica Agarwal , Man-To Hui , Harold Weaver

For the second discovered interstellar comet 2I/Borisov we searched for a candidate for its home system. We will never be sure which star or stellar system does this comet come from but obtaining a very small relative velocity and a…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-11-27 Piotr A. Dybczyński , Małgorzata Królikowska , Rita Wysoczańska

On 31 August 2019, an interstellar comet was discovered as it passed through the Solar System (2I/Borisov). Based on initial imaging observations, 2I/Borisov appeared to be completely similar to ordinary Solar System comets - an unexpected…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2021-05-20 Piotr Guzik , Michał Drahus

We report the clear detection of C$_2$ and of abundant NH$_2$ in the first prominently active interstellar comet, 2I/Borisov. We observed 2I on three nights in November 2019 at optical wavelengths 4800--9300 \AA with the Multi-Unit…

We describe how the ESA Comet Interceptor mission, which is due to launch in 2028/29 to a yet-to-be-discovered target, can provide a conceptual basis for a future mission to visit an Interstellar Object. Comet Interceptor will wait in space…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2025-12-02 Colin Snodgrass , Marina Galand , Arnaud Beth , Charlotte Goetz , Abbie Donaldson , Cyrielle Opitom

The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is expected to arrive at a distance of $53.56(\pm 0.45)$ million ${\rm km}$ ($0.358\pm 0.003$~au) from Jupiter on March 16, 2026. We show that applying a total thrust $\Delta$V of $2.6755 {{\rm km~s^{-1}}}$…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-09-24 Abraham Loeb , Adam Hibberd , Adam Crowl

Comet Interceptor (Comet-I) was selected in June 2019 as the first ESA F-Class mission. In 2029+, Comet-I will hitch a ride to a Sun-Earth L2 quasi-halo orbit, as a co-passenger of ESA's M4 ARIEL mission. It will then remain idle at the L2…

1I/`Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov are the first macroscopic interstellar objects to be detected in the solar system. Their discovery has triggered a tsunami of scientific interest regarding the physical properties, dynamics and origin of the…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-07-10 David Jewitt