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Related papers: Interstellar Objects

200 papers

The discovery of two interstellar objects passing through the Solar System, 1I/`Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, implies that a galactic population exists with a spatial number density of order $\sim0.1$ au$^{-3}$. The forthcoming Rubin Observatory…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2023-10-27 Dušan Marčeta , Darryl Z. Seligman

The first discovered interstellar small object, `Oumuamua (1I/2017 U1), presents unique physical properties of extremely elongated geometric shape and dual characteristics of an asteroid and a comet. These properties suggest a possible…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-02-12 Xi-Ling Zheng , Ji-Lin Zhou

The recent discovery by Pan-STARRS1 of 1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua), on an unbound and hyperbolic orbit, offers a rare opportunity to explore the planetary formation processes of other stars, and the effect of the interstellar environment on a…

We simulate the passage through the Sun-Jupiter system of interstellar objects (ISOs) similar to 1I/`Oumuamua or 2I/Borisov. Capture of such objects is rare and overwhelmingly from low incoming speeds onto orbits akin to those of known…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-01-08 Tom Hands , Walter Dehnen

1I/'Oumuamua is the first detected interstellar interloper. We test the hypothesis that it is representative of a background population of exo-Oort cloud objects ejected under the effect of post-main sequence mass loss and stellar…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-02-13 Amaya Moro-Martín

The discovery of the second interstellar object 2I/Borisov on 2019 August 30 raises the question of whether it was ejected recently from a nearby stellar system. Here we compute the asymptotic incoming trajectory of 2I/Borisov, based on…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-02-05 Coryn A. L. Bailer-Jones , Davide Farnocchia , Quanzhi Ye , Karen J. Meech , Marco Micheli

The recently discovered first interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua) has brightness that varies by a factor of 10, a range greater than that of any Solar System asteroid, a spectrum characteristic of Type D asteroids, and no evidence of…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2018-05-16 J. I. Katz

The first interstellar object observed in our solar system, 1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua), exhibited a number of peculiar properties, including extreme elongation and acceleration excess. Recently, \cite{Seligman:2020vb} proposed that the object…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-08-26 Thiem Hoang , Abraham Loeb

The discovery of 1I/`Oumuamua confirmed that planetesimals must exist in great numbers in interstellar space. Originally generated during planet formation, they are scattered from their original systems and subsequently drift through…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-04-17 Susanne Pfalzner , Michele T. Bannister

Oumuamua, the first known object of extrasolar origin seen to enter our Solar System, has multiple unusual characteristics that, taken together, are very difficult to explain with conventional astronomical entities like asteroids and…

Popular Physics · Physics 2023-01-10 Ben Zuckerman

The origin of the interstellar object 1I/'Oumuamua, has defied explanation. In a companion paper (Jackson & Desch, 2021), we show that a body of N2 ice with axes 45 m x 44 m x 7.5 m at the time of observation would be consistent with its…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2021-06-02 Steven J. Desch , Alan P. Jackson

The nature of 1I/'Oumuamua (henceforth, 1I), the first interstellar object known to pass through the solar system, remains mysterious. Feng \& Jones noted that the incoming 1I velocity vector "at infinity" ($\textbf{v}_{\infty}$) is close…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-04-03 T. Marshall Eubanks

The phenomenon of 1I/'Oumuamua introduced the interstellar object (ISO) class of celestial body into the astronomical lexicon, those objects with heliocentric speeds clearly in excess of that required to parabolically escape the Solar…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2023-07-19 Adam Hibberd

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

At present, there exists no consensus in the astronomical community regarding either the bulk composition or the formation mechanism for the interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua). With the goal of assessing the merits of the various…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2021-11-24 W. Garrett Levine , Samuel H. C. Cabot , Darryl Seligman , Gregory Laughlin

We present observations of the interstellar interloper 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua) taken during its 2017 October flyby of Earth. The optical colors B-V = 0.70$\pm$0.06, V-R = 0.45$\pm$0.05, overlap those of the D-type Jovian Trojan asteroids and…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2017-12-13 David Jewitt , Jane Luu , Jayadev Rajagopal , Ralf Kotulla , Susan Ridgway , Wilson Liu , Thomas Augusteijn

`Oumuamua (1I/2017 U1) is the first object of interstellar origin observed in the Solar System. Recently, \citet{Micheli2018} reported that `Oumuamua showed deviations from a Keplerian orbit at a high statistical significance. The observed…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2018-11-28 Shmuel Bialy , Abraham Loeb

We provide a calculation of Pan-STARRS' ability to detect objects similar to the interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 (hereafter 'Oumuamua), including the most detectable approach vectors and the effect of object size on detection efficiency.…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2018-03-08 Aaron Do , Michael A. Tucker , John Tonry

The upcoming commencement of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space of Time (LSST) will greatly enhance the discovery rate of interstellar objects (ISOs). `Oumuamua and Borisov were the first two ISOs confirmed in the Solar…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2022-12-14 Amir Siraj , Abraham Loeb

1I/'Oumuamua, formerly known as A/2017 U1, is a sizable body currently passing through the solar system. It is generally considered to be a rocky asteroid-like object that came from another planetary system in the Milky Way. We point out…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-11-15 David Cyncynates , Emanuela Dimastrogiovanni , Saurabh Kumar , Jagjit Sidhu , Glenn D. Starkman