Glimpse of the first interstellar comet?

• Autores: Rebecca Boyle
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3150, 2017, pág. 15
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The solar system may be hosting a visitor from the stars. A newly discovered comet is screaming away from Earth, and based on its weird orbital trajectory might be the first comet ever observed to come from interstellar space. A sky-surveying telescope in Hawaii spotted the fast-moving object, now called C/2017 U1, on 18 October, after its closest approach to the sun. The following week, astronomers made 34 separate observations of the object and found it has a strange trajectory that doesn't appear to circle the sun. Most comets follow elliptical orbits around the sun, swooping in from the distant Oort cloud to kiss the inner solar system before heading back out again