From the tallest peak in Hawaii to a high plateau in the Andes, some of the biggest telescopes on Earth will point towards a faint smudge of light over the next few weeks. The same patch of sky will draw the attention of Gennady Borisov, an amateur astronomer in Crimea, and many other hobbyists who will sacrifice proper sleep and doze through their day jobs rather than miss this golden opportunity.
What they’re looking for is a rare visitor that is about to make its closest approach to the Sun. After that, they have just months to grab as much information as they can from the object before it disappears forever into the blackness of space.
This chunk of rock and ice started its journey many light years from Earth, millions of years ago. The object got kicked out of its own neighbourhood by a violent gravitational push — maybe from a nearby planet, maybe from a passing star. Since then, it has been adrift in the space between the stars, eventually heading in our direction.
On 30 August, Borisov spotted the object in the predawn sky — it was glowing dimly, with a broad stubby tail. Later named Comet 2I/Borisov after its discoverer, it captured global attention because it’s only the second object — aside from exotic dust particles — ever known to have entered our Solar System from interstellar space. “This is my eighth comet, and so amazing,” says Borisov, who adds that it was “great luck that I got such a unique object”.
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See Also:
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(2) Scientists catch glimpse of a fifth force of nature
(3) Four galaxy clusters merging in colossal collision
(4) New ‘warm Jupiter’ exoplanet discovered
(5) The simultaneous merging of giant galaxies
(6) First-ever map of Saturn’s moon reveals its Martian landscape
(8) Supermassive black hole found spawning stars at ‘furious rate’ of 500 per year, NASA says
(9) A violent explosion in a distant galaxy breaks the record for the brightest light ever seen
