Astronomers have discovered an object that likely entered the Solar System from interstellar space. It will approach the Sun in October.
To date, astronomers are aware of only two objects of interstellar origin that have visited our Solar System: the asteroid Oumuamua and the comet Borisov. Their distinctive feature is that they move along a hyperbolic (non-closed) trajectory. This means that after approaching the Sun, such bodies fly away into interstellar space forever.
The newly discovered interstellar guest has been given the temporary designation A11pl3Z. It was first reported by a student astrophysicist from California, registered on the Bluesky platform under the nickname Astrafoxen. He published images of the object obtained during the Deep Random Survey.
Then amateur astronomer Sam Deen found earlier images of the object in ATLAS data from June 25 to 29. They helped trace the trajectory of A11pl3Z and more accurately determine its eccentricity (11.6), which indicates that it almost certainly has an interstellar origin.
A11pl3Z currently has a magnitude of approximately 18.8. Based on available images, A11pl3Z does not exhibit cometary activity and does not have a tail. At the end of October, it will approach the Sun at a minimum distance of 1.35 AU, which is approximately 200 million kilometers. The interstellar object poses no threat to our planet and will not approach it. However, it will pass relatively close to Mars at a distance of about 0.19 AU (28 million km), which may provide an excellent opportunity for observations from Earth. They will help determine the characteristics of the interstellar visitor and its possible place of origin.
Earlier, we reported on how humanity was preparing to hunt for interstellar objects.
According to Earthsky
