A new interstellar object has been spotted careening into the solar system at an extremely unusual trajectory.
If its interstellar origins were to be confirmed, it'd only be the third of its kind spotted in the solar system in history. An oblong interstellar object, dubbed 'Oumuamua, was first discovered in 2017, while comet 2I/Borisov was detected in 2019.
The latest addition, provisionally named A11pl3Z, has a highly unusual trajectory, leading astronomers to believe it may have also originated from outside our star system.
The object was added to the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center's list of confirmed Near-Earth Objects on July 1, as EarthSky reports. NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab also list it as a near-Earth object.
Scientists estimate it could be up to 12 miles across. It could also set a new speed record, ripping by the Earth with a relative velocity of around 56 miles per second, according to radio astronomer Marshall Eubanks.
It's still far too early to tell what A11pl3Z actually is. Could it be a comet, like 2I/Borisov, a celestial object made of ice, dust, and small rock particles? Or could it be an asteroid, ejected from a distant star system to end up in our own?
In any case, it's an exciting new discovery that could allow scientists to glean new insights into the nature of interstellar space and the alien worlds that populate it.
Understandably, astronomers are thrilled to find out more about the unusual visitor.
"After a few more precovery observations, and followups, it became clear this object is on a hyperbolic trajectory through the solar system," Catalina Sky Survey astronomer David Rankin wrote in a post on Bluesky, noting that its trajectory has "by far the highest eccentricity of any object ever discovered."
According to Rankin, the object's eccentricity is around 6.05. In simple terms, that means it's taking far more of a "straight" path through the solar system than any object we've ever found.
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