Comet from Outside Solar System is Hurtling to the Orbit of Mars

Scientists have discovered a new comet that is hurtling towards the orbit of Mars and therefore they are trying to find out and confirm whether it has come from outside the solar system, a likely probability that is going to make it the second such interstellar object observed in recent history in our planetary neighborhood.

The Crimean astronomer Gennady Borisov first detected the trajectory of the said comet. According to him, the comet follows a highly curved path barreling in the direction of the sun at an unusual high speed and further evidence suggest that it could have originated beyond or outside the solar system.

Karen Meech, an astronomer associated with the University of Hawaii, who and whose team are observing the comet since its discovery, has come to the conclusion that the size of the object and tail of gas classify it as a comet.

Karen says “On our team we’ve been scrambling here at the University of Hawaii to get observations to make position measurements. Every time a new comet is discovered, everybody starts to try and get as much as data so that you can get the orbit”. She told adding that her researchers “all are 100 percent convinced that this really, truly is an interstellar”.

Meanwhile, Davide Farnocchia, an astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California observes, “The high velocity indicates not only that the object likely originated from outside our solar system, but also that it will leave and head back to interstellar space”. 

The comet, which is an apparent combination of dust and ice is expected to make its closest approach to the sun on December 8, putting it at 190 million miles, which is about 300 million km from the Earth, on a route which is believed to be unique to such objects of interstellar origin.

Once confirmed interstellar, the astronomers associated with its observation would name the comet C/2019 Q4 and it would become only the second such body ever observed by the scientists.

The first foreign comet discovered was a cigar-shaped comet, which was named ‘Oumuamua’, a name of Hawaiian origin, which means a messenger from afar arriving first that sailed into the planetary neighborhood in the year 2017 prompting initial speculation that it may have been an alien spacecraft. Astronomers later reached a consensus that it was not an alien spacecraft.

Unlike Oumuamua, which visited the solar system for only a week, the newly found comet is expected to stay near the Mars orbit for almost a year. This also will give scientists ample time and opportunity to study its chemical signatures and seek further clues about its origin.