Related papers: Cometary Observations in Light-Polluted Environmen…

Interstellar Objects (ISO) passing through our Solar System offer a rare opportunity to probe the physical and chemical processes involved in solid body and planet formation in extrasolar systems. The main objective of our study is 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…

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is only the third interstellar object to be discovered. Pre-perihelion measurements provide a unique opportunity to study its activity and composition, which may alter as it is heated in the coming months. We…

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…

Interstellar Objects are comets and asteroids that formed around other stars but were ejected before they could accrete into exoplanets. They therefore represent a rare opportunity to compare the building blocks of planets in the Solar…

During the formation and evolution of the Solar System, significant numbers of cometary and asteroidal bodies were ejected into interstellar space$^{1,2}$. It can be reasonably expected that the same happened for planetary systems other…

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.…

We present high resolution, deep imaging of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov taken with the Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Camera 3 (HST/WFC3) on 2019 December 8 UTC and 2020 January 27 UTC (HST GO 16040, PI Bolin) before and after its…

We present the first polarimetric observations of the third discovered interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1), obtained pre-perihelion with FORS2/VLT, ALFOSC/NOT, and FoReRo2/RCC, over a phase angle range of 7.7-22.4{\deg}. This marks…

In this work, we present the results of an observational study of 2I/Borisov carried out with the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the 3.6-m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), both telescopes located at the Roque de Los Muchachos…

During the formation of our solar system, a large number of planetesimals were ejected into interstellar space by gravitational encounters with the planets. Debris disks observations and numerical simulations indicate that many other…

The recently discovered first high velocity hyperbolic objects passing through the Solar System, 1I/'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, have raised the question about near term missions to Interstellar Objects. In situ spacecraft exploration of these…

We observed the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov using the Neil Gehrels-Swift Observatory's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. We obtained images of the OH gas and dust surrounding the nucleus at six epochs spaced before and after perihelion…

The composition of comets in the Solar System come in multiple groups thought to encode information about their formation in different regions of the outer protosolar disk. The recent discovery of the second interstellar object, 2I/Borisov,…

The detection of interstellar bodies passing near the Sun offers the opportunity to observe not just objects similar to those in the solar system, but also unfamiliar objects without solar system analogues. Here I show that Asymptotic Giant…

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…

Object 1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua) is the first interstellar small body ever discovered in the solar system. By the time of discovery, it had already passed perihelion. To investigate the behavior of `Oumuamua around perihelion, we searched for…

The interstellar comet 2I/Borisov bears a strong resemblance to Oort Cloud comets, judging from its appearance in images taken over the first six weeks of observation. To test the proposed affinity in more diagnostic terms, 2I is compared…

Interstellar objects provide a direct window into the environmental conditions around stars other than the Sun. The recent discovery of 3I/ATLAS, a new interstellar comet, offers a unique opportunity to investigate the physical and chemical…

Based on the occurrence rates implied by the discoveries of 1I/`Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, the forthcoming Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) should detect $\ge1$ interstellar objects every year (Hoover et al. 2021). We…