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Second Interstellar Object Confirmed, Named 2I/Borisov

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday September 26 2019, @07:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the ET-phone-home dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.sciencealert.com/our-new-interstellar-visitor-is-now-official-and-it-has-a-name

The verdict is in: after a thorough round of observations, the comet suspected of being an interstellar alien has been ratified. According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the comet is "unambiguously" interstellar in origin, and it has now been given a name: 2I/Borisov.

Previously, the comet had been going by the provisional name C/2019 Q4 (Borisov). C means it's a comet with a hyperbolic orbit, followed by the year it was discovered, an alphanumeric code for when in the year it was discovered, and the comet name in parentheses - that's Crimean amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, who spotted the comet with telescope he made himself.

The new name has been simplified. In 2I, I stands for "interstellar", and 2 for being the second interstellar object ever discovered, after 'Oumuamua, which was detected in October 2017.

Previously: Possible Second Interstellar Object Discovered

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 26 2019, @06:26PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 26 2019, @06:26PM (#899255)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2I/Borisov [wikipedia.org]

    The higher hyperbolic excess velocity of 2I/Borisov of 30.7 km/s makes it harder to reach for a spacecraft than 1I/'Oumuamua (26.33 km/s). According to a team of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies, a two-ton spacecraft could theoretically have been sent in July 2018 to intercept 2I/Borisov using a Falcon Heavy-class launcher, but only if the object had been discovered much earlier than it was. Launches after the actual discovery date would require a significantly large launcher such as the Space Launch System (SLS) and Oberth manoeuvres near Jupiter and near the Sun. And even an SLS-class launcher would now only be able to deliver a 3 kg (6.6 lb) payload (such as a CubeSat) into a trajectory that could intercept 2I/Borisov in 2045 at a relative speed of 34 km/s.[32] According to congressional testimony, NASA may need at least five years of preparation to launch such an intercepting mission.[33]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 26 2019, @09:49PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 26 2019, @09:49PM (#899314)

    Isn’t Juno out there? Seems like it could take a quick look.
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft)#Planned_deorbit_and_disintegration [wikipedia.org]
    Also, a good reason to leave these missions running long term - just to catch special opportunities like this

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 26 2019, @09:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 26 2019, @09:57PM (#899317)

      If you want to intercept an interstellar object to capture it or prevent it from hitting Earth, you would need very sensitive telescopes that could image it years in advance, so you could launch a mission years in advance.

      ESA's upcoming comet mission will be launched with no target in mind: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/06/22/1811224 [soylentnews.org]

      If the solar system was filled up with spacecraft like that, more transient events could be discovered at the very least.