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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
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday September 26 2019, @10:11PM
Goodness! I never knew there was that much passion amongst the
astrologyastronomy crowd.Apart from that whole Pluto thing a few years ago, of course.