The Alpha Centauri (AC) star system is our nearest stellar neighbour and it is moving toward us, presenting an excellent opportunity to study how material might move between Solar Systems.
An object up to dozens of times the mass of Jupiter flying through our solar system may have disrupted planetary orbits.
Dark comets are objects that looks like asteroids but acts like comets. Now, new research has doubled the number of known dark comets and grouped them into two distinct populations.
What would happen to our mature, sedate Solar System if it suddenly gained another member? That would depend on the object's mass and the eventual orbit that it found itself in.
The meteor from which these beads originated, known as IM1, disintegrated over the Pacific in 2014. Some of these spherules do not possess the chemical composition expected from objects in our Solar System.
Comet 2I/Borisov is only the second interstellar object known to have passed through the solar system. This mysterious visitor from the depths of space is the first identified comet to arrive here from another star.
It is now confirmed that the comet spotted a few weeks ago by amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov from MARGO Observatory, Crimea, is indeed coming from interstellar space. This is only the second known interstellar object to pass through our Solar System.
Last October, researchers spotted a long, skinny object speeding through our solar system. Additional observations have now earned the object a comet label.
The first interstellar object ever seen in our solar system, named ‘Oumuamua, is giving scientists a fresh perspective on how planets, asteroids and comets form.
According to the latest findings, it seems that ‘Oumuamua may actually be more icy than previously thought (thus indicated that it is a comet) and is not an alien spacecraft as some had hoped.
Scientists know of 750,000 or so asteroids and comets—and all of them are part of this fine solar system. That is, all of them but one. And as new research shows, it is weird.
The object zoomed into our solar system from an extreme angle above the path in which most planets and asteroids orbit the sun.
