it's official: the object captured on the 30th of August is the second body interstellar of which humanity is aware. So it has been ratified by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which states that its origin is beyond our Solar System "unequivocally". In addition, already has a name: 2I / Borisov .
Until now, what experts believe is a comet coming from beyond our cosmic neighbourhood, was called, provisionally, C / 2019 Q4 (Borisov) . The C was that it was a comet with an orbit hyperbolic, followed by the year of your descurbimiento. Borisov comes from the surname of the amateur astronomer that discovered it, Gennadiy Borisov . "In this case, the IAU has decided to continue the tradition of naming objects comments after their discoverers, so that the object has been appointed 2I / Borisov", writes in a press release on the institution.
The new name picks up the symbols 2I for being the second object of interstellar that is captured by human technology. The first was the famous Oumuamua, that in 2017 it was registered when they leave our Solar System. However, the mystery is still around our first visitor, because scientists do not agree on what is really (even it have launched theories that it could be an ancient alien spacecraft drift).
What is known to date
But astronomers have not only baptized, formally, to this visitor, but also have begun to inquire about his composition and route, throwing the hypotheses about the place from which it has been able to reach. The comet is approaching the orbital plane of the planets, the ecliptic, at an angle of around 40 degrees, and travels at a breakneck speed of 150,000 kilometres per hour . Has between 2 and 16 km in diameter , and the images of the object show a faint outline of typical of the degassing of comets, and even a tail.
A previous analysis of the Institute of Astrophysics of Canarias (IAC) revealed that their chemical composition is probably similar to that of comets in the Solar System, which would indicate that the place where it comes from 2I Borisov is similar to ours. In addition, according to the observations and analysis up to now, the comet is currently going towards the Sun, and will reach its closest approximation (perihelion) the December 8, at a distance of 300 million kilometers approximately the double of the average distance of the Earth from the Sun. This means that the researchers you will have almost a year to be able to make more observations .
on the other hand, a new article just released by astronomers poles on the site preprint arXiv may have traced the trajectory of the comet to try to determine where it comes from. The results do not point conclusively to an origin, but the document suggests that, for about a million years ago, 2I Borisov switched to the binary star Kruger 60 which is 13 light-years away. The comet "grazed" the star, at a distance relatively close to that of 5.7 years of light , and at a speed less than it is currently, only 12.348 kilometers per hour.
Obviously, this is a very preliminary and trace a precise trajectory it will take months of observations , and study the comet itself can provide some surprises. In particular, it will be exciting to see how similar it is to the comets of the Solar System, and if there are notable differences. The new Oumuamua can still lead to big surprises.
Date Of Update: 26 September 2019, 06:01
