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<br /><br /><ul><li>The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has confirmed that an ‘unambiguously’ interstellar space object is going to visit our solar system. <br /></li><li>The comet-like object now has an official name — 2I/Borisov.<br /></li><li>2I signifies that it's the second <keyword id="5933698" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Interstellar-object">interstellar object</keyword> to be spotted and Borisov is the name of the astronomer who first spotted the object — Gennady Borisov.<br /></li></ul>Earlier this month, astronomers spotted a new <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-second-mysterious-object-from-interstellar-space-may-be-about-to-fly-through-our-solar-system/articleshow/71089009.cms">mysterious interstellar object</a> which will visiting our solar system. It’s only the second such object to be spotted after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-bizarre-interstellar-object-called-oumuamua-continues-to-perplex-astronomers-a-year-after-it-vanished-heres-why-a-few-scientists-still-wonder-if-it-was-alien-/articleshow/67809058.cms">Oumuamua</a>, last year.<br /><br />Now it officially has a name — 2I/Borisov. The 2I represents that it’s the second interstellar object to be spotted in our solar system.It is named after the astronomer who first spotted the object on 30 August 2019, Gennady Borisov.<br /><br />Aside from naming the object, the International Astronomical Union (<a href="https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau1910/">IAU</a>) also confirmed that the object is ‘unambiguously’ interstellar in its origin.<br /><br /><strong>More time with the comet<br /></strong><br />Astronomers currently believe that Borisov is a comet since it has a condensed body and a short tail as per the images captured by the <a href="https://www.iac.es/en/outreach/news/gran-telescopio-canarias-obtains-visible-spectrum-c2019-q4-borisov-first-confirmed-interstellar-comet">Gran Telescopio Canarias</a> — one of the largest telescopes in the world.<br /><br />If it is a comet, it has the most hyperbolic orbits that has ever been observed.<br /><br /><div type="image" title="borisov orbit_edited" msid="71286898" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;2I Borisov&amp;#39;s hyperbolic orbit&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

<br />It’s Borisov’s trajectory and velocity that led astronomers to conclude that it is a visitor to our solar system.<br /><br />It’s difficult to ascertain the exact size of the comet because its nucleus is embedded in the coma — the surrounding dust and ice. But, based on how brightly it shines, IAU estimates that its at least a few kilometers in diameter.<br /><br /><div type="image" title="borisov_brightness" msid="71286886" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The estimated diameter of 2I Borisov based on its brightness&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

<br />It’s also going to be visiting for a lot longer than Oumuamua. Astronomers only had a few days to observe the first interstellar object but Borisov will be staying on till January giving scientists months to record its behaviour.<br /><br />It will be the closest to Earth on 7 December 2019 at a distance of about 3 million kilometers.<br /><br /><strong>See also:<br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-second-mysterious-object-from-interstellar-space-may-be-about-to-fly-through-our-solar-system/articleshow/71089009.cms">A second mysterious object from interstellar space may be about to fly through our solar system</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-bizarre-interstellar-object-called-oumuamua-continues-to-perplex-astronomers-a-year-after-it-vanished-heres-why-a-few-scientists-still-wonder-if-it-was-alien-/articleshow/67809058.cms">A bizarre interstellar object called 'Oumuamua continues to perplex astronomers a year after it vanished. Here's why a few scientists still wonder if it was alien.</a><br />

Second mysterious interstellar space object to fly through our solar system has an official name

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/hubble-observes-1st-confirmed-interstellar-comet">NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)</a></span></p><p class="caption">This Hubble image taken October 12, 2019 is the sharpest view of the comet 2I/Borisov to date.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/nasa">NASA</a>'s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/hubble-space-telescope">Hubble Space Telescope</a> has snapped a clear photo of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">the second interstellar visitor ever detected in our solar system</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/image-reveals-second-interstellar-object-comet-tail-2019-9">The comet</a>, called 2I/Borisov, came from an unknown star system. It's hurtling past the sun at 110,000 miles per hour and is expected to pass close to Mars later this month.</li><li>The photos and time-lapse video from Hubble show a halo of dust surrounding the object's unseen core, just like comets from our own solar system. That's very different than the first <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/interstellar-space">interstellar</a> object ever detected, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/oumuamua">'Oumuamua</a>, which was an inactive rock.</li><li>Astronomers worldwide are racing to study 2I/Borisov with other telescopes. More Hubble observations are scheduled for the coming months.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>The second interstellar visitor ever detected is plummeting into our solar system, and NASA's Hubble telescope just snapped a clear photo of it.</p><p>The comet, known as 2I/Borisov, came from another star system, though astronomers don't know exactly where yet. It's named for the amateur astronomer who first spotted it on August 30: Gennady Borisov, who lives in Crimea. Nearly a month later, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) confirmed the object's interstellar origins.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">It's official: The second interstellar visitor ever discovered is about to fly through our solar system</a></em></p><p>The comet is hurtling past the sun at speeds of 110,000 miles per hour, then is expected to fly near Mars this month, passing outside the planet's orbit and getting no closer to Earth than 190 million miles (300 million kilometers).</p><p>2I/Borisov is only the second interstellar object ever found to be passing through our solar system. The first such object, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">mysterious</a> and cigar-shaped <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">'Oumuamua</a> (which a few scientists controversially argued <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">could be alien</a> in origin), sped past Earth at a distance of 15 million miles in October 2017.</p><p>"The main difference from 'Oumuamua and this one is that we got it a long, long time in advance, " <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eso.org%2F%7Eohainaut%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Olivier Hainaut</a>, an astronomer with the European Southern Observatory, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">told Business Insider</a> in September. "Now astronomers are much more prepared."</p><p>NASA turned the lens of its most powerful space telescope, Hubble, toward the comet and snapped the clearest photo of it yet on October 12. The agency released the image on Wednesday. At the time of the photo, 2I/Borisov was 260 million miles from Earth.</p><p>"Whereas 'Oumuamua appeared to be a rock, Borisov is really active, more like a normal comet. It's a puzzle why these two are so different," David Jewitt, the astronomer who led the Hubble team that observed the comet, said in a <a href="https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2019/news-2019-53#section-id-2">press release</a>.</p><h2>2I/Borisov looks like comets from our solar system </h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gemini.edu/node/21240">Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA/Composite image by Travis Rector</a></span></p><p class="caption">Gemini Observatory's two-color composite image of 2I/Borisov (called C/2019 Q4 at the time), in September 2019. Blue and red dashes are background stars that appear to streak as the comet moves.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The new image reveals a concentration of dust surrounding the comet's core, though the core itself is too small for Hubble to see. NASA has <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2019-185">estimated</a> that the core is between 1.2 and 10 miles (2 and 16 kilometers) in diameter. </p><p>That dust halo is characteristic of comets - they hold ice that gets heated up by nearby stars, leading them to shoot out gas and grit into space. The dust could make 2I/Borisov simpler to track than 'Oumuamua, since dust brightly reflects sunlight.</p><p>The Hubble team also shared a time-lapse video clip (below) of the comet; the footage spans seven hours of observations, which is why stars are streaked across the background.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/hubble-observes-1st-confirmed-interstellar-comet">NASA, ESA and J. DePasquale (STScI)</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Hubble image reveals a central concentration of dust around the comet's unseen nucleus.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Observations of 2I/Borisov could tell astronomers about the structure and chemistry of the materials that form in whichever star system the object came from. So far, it looks a lot like the comets from our own solar system. </p><p>"Though another star system could be quite different from our own, the fact that the comet's properties appear to be very similar to those of the solar system's building blocks is very remarkable," Amaya Moro-Martin, an astronomer at the Space Telescope <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword> Institute, said in the release.</p><h2>Astronomers will watch the interstellar object with as many telescopes as possible</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>NASA/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">NASA's Hubble Space Telescope orbits Earth.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>More Hubble observations of the comet are scheduled through January 2020, and astronomers have submitted proposals for even more after that.</p><p>"New comets are always unpredictable," Max Mutchler, another member of the Hubble team, said in the release. "They sometimes brighten suddenly or even begin to fragment as they are exposed to the intense heat of the sun for the first time. Hubble is poised to monitor whatever happens next with its superior sensitivity and resolution."</p><p>Meanwhile, astronomers are grabbing observation time with every other available telescope, including what Hainaut called the "big guys," like the Very Large Telescope in Chile.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>ESO</span></p><p class="caption">The Very Large Telescope is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Astronomers expect 2I/Borisov to be brightest in mid-December, when it will get closest to the sun. Mid-sized telescopes should be able to keep observing it until April 2020. After that, larger, more sophisticated telescopes can continue watching it until October 2020, when it will fade back into interstellar space.</p><p>Overall, the fact that 2I/Borisov was detected just two years after 'Oumuamua suggests that interstellar visitors may be far more common than scientists previously thought. A recent <a href="https://news.yale.edu/2019/09/26/get-ready-more-interstellar-objects-yale-astronomers-say">study</a> found that a few such large objects likely enter our solar system every year, along with hundreds more small objects that are harder to detect.</p><p>Each new object that astronomers identify can teach us something new about other star systems.</p><p>"Here we have something that was born around another star and traveling toward us," Hainaut said. "It's the next best thing to sending a probe to a different solar system."</p><p><em>Dave Mosher contributed reporting to this story.</em></p>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-scientists-oumuamua-interstellar-object-alien-spacecraft-solar-sail-2018-11">Why Harvard scientists think this interstellar object might be an alien spacecraft</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

NASA's Hubble space telescope just took incredible photos of a visiting comet from another star system

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gemini.edu/node/21240">Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA</a></span></p><p class="caption">Gemini Observatory's two-color composite image of C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), which is likely the first interstellar comet ever identified. Blue and red dashes are background stars that appear to streak as the comet moves.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Astronomers have likely <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">detected an interstellar object</a> approaching our solar system - only the second time such an object has been observed.</li><li>A new image provides the clearest picture we have so far of the object, called C/2019 Q4.</li><li>The photo shows a cloud of dust surrounding the object and a tail of gas trailing behind it, confirming that the likely interstellar visitor is a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rosetta-comet-67p-timelapse-video-dust-stars-2018-4">comet</a>.</li><li>Telescope observations have provided more evidence that the comet came from another star system, according to a study that's not yet peer-reviewed.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>The Gemini Observatory in Hawai'i has captured a new and revealing image of a mysterious object that's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">likely the first interstellar comet</a> humans have ever detected.</p><p>The comet, called C/2019 Q4, appears to be streaking towards our solar system from an unknown origin point in another star system.</p><p>Astronomers pointed a Gemini telescope, located on top of the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawai'i, at the object on September 10. Astronomers in Spain also leveraged the William Herschel Telescope in La Palma to get a glimpse.</p><p>Together, the telescopes revealed a fuzzy haze of dust surrounding the object, as well as a "faint, broad tail" of gas trailing behind it, according to a team of researchers in Poland who analyzed the observations. These are two "canonical signatures" of a comet, they said.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong></em><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">NASA says a new comet is likely an 'interstellar visitor' from another star system - the second ever detected</a></em></p><p>The findings were made available online in the repository <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.05851">arXiv</a>, but have not yet been peer-reviewed. However, they serve as additional evidence that the comet does indeed have interstellar origins. </p><p>"Both orbital and morphological properties of this body show that this is the first certain case of an interstellar comet," the study authors wrote.</p><h2>Scientists are trying to confirm that C/2019 Q4 comes from another star system</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.gemini.edu/gallery/media/gemini-north-under-milky-bow">Gemini Observatory/AURA/Joy Pollard</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Gemini North (foreground) and Canada-France-Hawai'i Telescope in the pre-dawn twilight, with the Milky Way arching overhead, near the summit of Mauna Kea.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Gennady Borisov, an amateur astronomer in Crimea, first spotted C/2019 Q4 in the sky on August 30. Since then, astronomers worldwide have been trying to determine whether the comet has an orbit that's elliptical (oval-shaped and around the sun) or hyperbolic (checkmark-shaped, and on an open-ended trajectory).</p><p>It seems much more likely that its path is hyperbolic, though more observations are required to know for sure. In particular, astronomers are trying to ascertain C/2019 Q4's eccentricity, or how extreme its orbit is. </p><p>"The error indicates it's still possible that's within the solar system," <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eso.org%2F%7Eohainaut%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Olivier Hainaut</a>, an astronomer with the European Southern Observatory, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">previously</a> told Business Insider. "But that error is decreasing as we get more and more data, and the eccentricity is looking interstellar."</p><p>If the measure of eccentricity is smaller than 1, Hainaut said, that indicates an object from within our solar system. If it's larger, that suggests it's an interstellar object. The researchers behind the Gemini observations say their data shows an eccentricity of at least 3.</p><h2>This object is different than 'Oumuamua</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/06/Artist_impression_of_Oumuamua">ESA/Hubble; NASA; ESO; M. Kornmesser</a></span></p><p class="caption">An artist's depiction of interstellar object 'Oumuamua.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The first interstellar object ever detected, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">mysterious</a> and cigar-shaped <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">'Oumuamua</a>, zoomed through our solar system in 2017. </p><p>'Oumuamua did not exhibit the comet-like traits of C/2019 Q4. In fact, 'Oumuamua didn't look at all like the kind of interstellar object scientists had expected to see. That led some to argue that it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">may have been alien</a> in origin, though that's highly unlikely.</p><p>This new comet seems to be more in line with scientists' expectations about objects from other star systems.</p><p>"The discovery of this object indicates that interstellar comets might be common and creates a tremendous opportunity to study the first such object in detail," the study authors wrote.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomer-discovered-interstellar-black-hole-2016-12">Astronomers think they've just discovered an 'Interstellar' black hole</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A new image of a mysterious object careening toward our solar system strongly suggests it's the first comet from another star system

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new project will search for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-no-contact-with-aliens-2019-9">alien civilizations</a> and technologies using Earth-based telescopes.</li><li>Researchers plan to look for <a href="https://www.insider.com/ufo-expert-says-extremely-advanced-technology-could-explain-sightings-2021-5">unidentified aerial phenomena</a> in the atmosphere that could be <keyword id="77929" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="aliens">aliens</keyword>.</li><li>Harvard physicist Avi Loeb leads the project. He thinks the interstellar object <keyword id="10940945" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="oumuamua">'Oumuamua</keyword> was an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-not-alien-spacecraft-study-2019-7">alien ship</a>.</li></ul><p>When the first interstellar object ever observed, 'Oumuamua, careened past Earth in 2017, it seemed to be accelerating. That's not what most <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword> rocks do - which is in part why Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb says 'Oumuamua was an alien spaceship.</p><p>Although <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-not-alien-spacecraft-study-2019-7">most researchers</a> agree that the object was a space rock - either a comet or piece of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-oumuamua-part-of-planet-not-aliens-study-2021-3">a tiny planet</a> - Loeb thinks there are countless other objects like 'Oumuamua whizzing by our planet, some of which could come from aliens, too. So he launched a program to find them. </p><p>On Monday, Loeb announced an initiative called the Galileo Project - after the Italian astronomer - that will search for physical evidence of alien technologies and civilizations.</p><p>"It's a fishing expedition, let's just go out and catch whatever fish we find," Loeb said in a press conference. "And that includes objects close to Earth, hovering within our atmosphere, or objects that came from outside the solar system that look weird."</p><p>The $1.75 million project, backed by at least <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/advisory-board">four philanthropists</a>, aims to use a network of Earth-based telescopes to look for interstellar objects that could be extraterrestrial in nature. The group will also hunt for potential alien ships in Earth's orbit, as well as unidentified flying craft in our atmosphere.</p><h2>Finding interstellar objects before they pass Earth</h2><div type="image" title="oumuamua 1I 2017 u1 solar system trajectory illustration comet asteroid or alien spaceship nasa swri esa stsci PIA22357_fig1" height="1800" width="3200" msid="84778792" hostid="261"></div><p>By the time astronomers became aware of 'Oumuamua's existence, it was already zipping away at 196,000 mph. Several telescopes on the ground and one in space took limited observations, but astronomers had just a few weeks to study the strange, skyscraper-sized object before it got too far away.</p><p>That left many questions about what the object was and where it came from. In a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-object-close-to-earth-in-2017-says-harvard-professor-2021-1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">book</a> Loeb published in January, "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth," he describes 'Oumuamua as a defunct piece of alien technology.</p><p>"The object has anomalies that merit some attention - things that do not line up in the ways we expected," Loeb told Insider ahead of the book's publication, adding, "when something doesn't line up, you should say it."</p><p>Two years after 'Oumuamua's discovery, astronomers spotted <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-second-interstellar-object-may-be-streaking-through-our-solar-system/">a second interstellar object</a>: a comet called 2I/Borisov. With the Galileo Project, Loeb and a team of 14 other researchers hope to spot future interstellar objects early as they approach Earth. To do this, they plan to use the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii and an 8-meter-wide telescope currently under construction at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.</p><p>Early detection could enable scientists to send probes to these objects, according to Frank Laukien, a visiting scholar at Harvard and a co-founder of the Galileo Project.</p><p>"We should, next time, have much better data much earlier, and maybe land on them or get very, very close to them," Laukien said in the press conference. </p><h2>Searching for signs of extraterrestrial technology</h2><div type="image" title="vera rubin telescope" height="3010" width="4014" msid="84778793" hostid="261"></div><p>Loeb describes the new project as complementary to the SETI Institute, which searches for <keyword id="1608062" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="extraterrestrial-life">extraterrestrial life</keyword> using radio telescopes. But the Galileo Project, he said, will search for physical evidence of alien civilizations, rather than radio signals. That includes potential alien satellites that could be orbiting Earth or fragments of extraterrestrial craft. (One of Loeb's hypotheses is that 'Oumuamua is a piece of lightsail or antenna that broke off a larger ship.)</p><p>Loeb also plans to examine unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, within Earth's atmosphere.</p><p>Last month, US intelligence officials released <a href="https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Prelimary-Assessment-UAP-20210625.pdf">a report</a> describing 144 incidents since 2004 in which military personnel encountered UAPs. One of those incidents turned out to involve a deflating balloon, but the rest remain unexplained, the report concluded.</p><div type="image" title="ufo uap pentagon triangle" height="998" width="2000" msid="84778794" hostid="261"></div><p>"It's an unusual admission by the government, saying there are objects in our sky we don't fully understand," Loeb said.</p><p>According to <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo">the Galileo Project's website</a>, these UAPs could be artifacts of an extinct alien civilizations or active extraterrestrial equipment. So the group hopes to image future UAPs in higher resolution by creating a network of 1-meter telescopes around the world. </p><p>Such telescopes, which cost about $500,000 each, can spot details just 1 millimeter in size on objects the size of a person a mile away.</p><p>"That could help us distinguish a label saying 'thing made in country X,' from a label saying, 'made by exoplanet Y,'" Loeb said. </p><div type="image" title="Avi Loeb Stephen Hawking 2016.JPG" height="1539" width="2052" msid="84778795" hostid="261"></div><p>He added that the Galileo team plans to make its data public to encourage other scientists to engage in the search, too. </p><p>"Finding others on cosmic streets will help us mature - help us realize were not the sharpest cookies in the jar, and intelligent life that is way beyond us may exist out there," Loeb said. </p>

A Harvard-led team is launching a new project to search for physical evidence of aliens and their technology

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://orbitsimulator.com/gravitySimulatorCloud/simulations/1568147419153_gb00234.html">OrbitalSimulator.com</a></span></p><p class="caption">Astronomers think object C/2019 Q4 (green line) could be an interstellar object, perhaps a comet from another star system.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Astronomers think they've detected an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-civilizations-may-have-already-colonized-galaxy-study-2019-8">interstellar object</a> approaching our solar system.</li><li>Called "C/2019 Q4" (formerly "gb00234"), the object appears to be following a path originating from outside the solar system. It may pass near Mars in October.</li><li>This would be only the second interstellar object ever observed in our solar system. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-not-alien-spacecraft-study-2019-7">first such visitor</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/oumuamua">'Oumuamua</a>, took scientists by surprise in 2017. This time, they're getting ready to watch C/2019 Q4 with "everything" they can, one astronomer said.</li><li>If C/2019 Q4 is indeed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">interstellar</a>, scientists should be able to study the object until it grows too dim to see in early 2021.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Astronomers may have spotted the second object ever to visit our solar system from another star system. The object may even fly near Mars later this year, though it's still far away.</p><p>The scientists' hunch is strong but not yet certain: Right now, the chances are much higher that the object, known as "C/2019 Q4" (formerly "gb00234"), is interstellar, rather than an asteroid or comet from within the solar system.</p><p>The first such interstellar object ever detected - the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">mysterious</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">controversial</a> cigar-shaped space rock '<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">Oumuamua</a> - zoomed through our solar system in 2017.</p><p>Amateur Ukrainian astronomer Gennady Borisov may have been the first to spot C/2019 Q4 in the sky on August 30. It hasn't yet entered our solar system, but astronomers have been collecting data in hopes of plotting the object's path through space and figuring out where it came from.</p><p>"It's so exciting, we're basically looking away from all of our other projects right now," <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eso.org%2F%7Eohainaut%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Olivier Hainaut</a>, an astronomer with the European Southern Observatory, told Business Insider on Wednesday. Hainaut was part of a global team of astronomers that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0254-4/">studied</a> 'Oumuamua as it passed through the solar system two years ago.</p><p>"The main difference from 'Oumuamua and this one is that we got it a long, long time in advance, " he added. "Now astronomers are much more prepared."</p><p>Early images suggest C/2019 Q4 is followed by a small tail or halo of dust. That's a distinct trait of comets - they hold ice that gets heated up by nearby stars, which leads them to shoot out gas and grit into space. The dust could make C/2019 Q4 simpler to track than 'Oumuamua, since dust brightly reflects sunlight.</p><p>This could also allow scientists to more easily study the object's composition, since telescope instruments can "taste" light to look for chemical signatures. </p><p>"Here we have something that was born around another star and traveling toward us. It's the next-best thing to sending a probe to a different solar system," Hainaut said.</p><h2>Astronomers are preparing to watch the object with as many telescopes as possible</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>ESO</span></p><p class="caption">The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Astronomers around the globe are grabbing every telescope available to plot C/2019 Q4's path through space. The goal: See if the object has an orbit that's elliptical (oval-shaped and around the sun) or hyperbolic (checkmark-shaped, and on an open-ended trajectory).</p><p>As of now, it seems much more likely that its path is hyperbolic, though astronomers say more observations are required to know for sure. In particular, they're trying to ascertain C/2019 Q4's eccentricity, or how extreme its orbit is.</p><p>"The error indicates it's still possible that's within the solar system," Hainaut said. "But that error is decreasing as we get more and more data, and the eccentricity is looking interstellar."</p><p>The object's seemingly high velocity and its comet-like shroud of dust also tilt the scales toward interstellar, Hainaut added.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://orbitsimulator.com/gravitySimulatorCloud/simulations/1568147419153_gb00234.html">OrbitalSimulator.com</a></span></p><p class="caption">This rough simulation shows C/2019 Q4's possible orbital path (green) through the solar system. It may pass between the orbits of Jupiter (purple) and Mars (orange) in late October.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"It could be a few days or a few weeks before we have enough data to definitively say. But even with the very best data, we may need more," he said. "It's frustrating."</p><p>When 'Oumuamua sped past Earth at a distance of just 15 million miles in October 2017, astronomers had no idea it was coming.</p><p>"We had to scramble for telescope time," Hainaut said. "This time, we're ready."</p><p>If it's interstellar, C/2019 Q4 would reach its closest point to the sun at the end of December, and scientists should be able to observe it through about January 2021.</p><p>Hainaut and his colleagues have some smaller telescopes queued up for observations, but he said he'd like to use "everything" to observe C/2019 Q4. His team is trying to get time on the "big guys": the Very Large Telescope in Chile, the Keck Observatory, the Gemini telescope in Hawaii, and more.</p><p>He said one colleague is also "polishing a proposal" to have the Hubble Space Telescope take a look, while other teammates are seeking the use of NASA's two infrared space telescopes: Spitzer and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explore (WISE).</p><h2>Scientists remain cautious about C/2019 Q4's identity, though</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/06/Artist_impression_of_Oumuamua">ESA/Hubble; NASA; ESO; M. Kornmesser</a></span></p><p class="caption">An artist's depiction of interstellar object 'Oumuamua.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Although many astronomers are excited about C/2019 Q4, more work has to be done to confirm it as interstellar.</p><p>"This is not the first object since 2017/1I, better known as ʻOumuamua, to show a hyperbolic orbit," Michele Bannister, a planetary astronomer at Queen's University Belfast, <a href="https://twitter.com/astrokiwi/status/1171724557952200706" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> on Wednesday.</p><p>Bannister noted that, with such limited observations, an object that appears to be interstellar orbit can turn out to have an orbit within our solar system.</p><p>"Sometimes, we just have to wait for the motion of the heavens. And make more observations," she <a href="https://twitter.com/astrokiwi/status/1171727224212545541" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>.</p><p>Those observations aren't easy, Hainaut said, due to C/2019 Q4's position relative to the sun - there's a very limited window of time before dawn when astronomers can see it.</p><p>"It's hard to see, but we have the best guys doing astrometry, trying to measure its position in the sky," he said. "It could be a few days or a few weeks before we have enough data to definitively say."</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">Mysterious space objects like 'Oumuamua will visit our solar system again. Scientists may intercept the next one with a robotic probe.</a></em></p><p>If C/2019 Q4 does turn out to be a second interstellar object, that would bode well for a proposed mission Hainaut is working on to send robotic probes into space to intercept future objects like this.</p><p>"One of the main issues is: How many of these are they? If we detect one every century, it's hard to plan a mission to intercept one," he said.</p><p>If these objects come every couple of years, on the other hand, astronomers might even be able to get choosy about which object to intercept.</p><p>"This suggests we can afford to wait one or two or three years to get the right one, and maybe not the first one we spot after organizing a mission," Hainaut said.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-scientists-oumuamua-interstellar-object-alien-spacecraft-solar-sail-2018-11">Why Harvard scientists think this interstellar object might be an alien spacecraft</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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