It Came From Out There. Oumuamua, The First Interstellar Asteroid!
On October 25, 2017, astronomers from NASA’s Minor Planet Center sent out an announcement that they needed help confirming the trajectory of an interesting object.
Known as C/2017 U1 PANSTARRS, the object was moving quickly through the Solar System, on a path that would take it out into deep space.
Astronomers were happy to oblige, providing dozens of observations within a few days, confirming that yes indeed, we were looking at the first asteroid that had come from interstellar space.
It Came From Out There. Oumuamua, The First Interstellar Asteroid! (YouTube)
Comments (1)
Hi Fraser, wouldn't it make more sense to have a fueled craft parked in LEO ready to chase down the next interstellar asteroid? It could be doing science while it waits and begin an intercept trajectory as soon as the object is spotted. If it were near the ISS it could periodically be refueled by cargo missions. Does this make sense?