1st Interstellar Asteroid Is a Spinning Space Cigar
Astronomers using the Pan-STARRS1 telescope in Hawaii spotted a mysterious object dashing through our solar system on Oct. 19. Traveling at high speed and originating from interstellar space, this object was originally thought to be an ancient comet, but observations revealed it was, in fact, an asteroid from another star system.
Astronomers have determined that the mysterious object — which has been named 'Oumuamua and given the official scientific designation 1I/2017 U1 — looped around the sun on Sept. 9 and made its closest pass by Earth on Oct. 14. 'Oumuamua (whose name means "a messenger from afar arriving first" in Hawaiian) is now about 124 million miles (200 million kilometers) from Earth and is zooming away from us at about 85,700 mph (137,900 km/h) relative to the sun, NASA officials said.
They also found that it has a dark red color, similar to objects in the outer solar system, and confirmed that it is completely inert, without the faintest hint of dust around it. Oumuamua is thought to be at least 1,300 feet (400 m) long, rocky (with some metal perhaps mixed in), relatively dense and shaped like a cigar, researchers said. It likely acquired its ruddy hue after being bombarded by high-energy cosmic rays for the millions of years it's been drifting through interstellar space.
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