A second interstellar object had made its way into our solar system a few weeks ago, but Yale astronomers Gregory Laughlin and Malena Rice were not surprised to hear it.
Their research, which has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggest that these strange, icy visitors from other planets will keep on coming.
We can expect a few large objects showing up every year, they say; smaller objects entering the solar system could reach into the hundreds each year.
“There should be a lot of this material floating around,” said Rice, a graduate student at Yale and first author of the study. “So much more data will be coming out soon, thanks to new telescopes coming online. We won’t have to speculate.”
More details on YaleNews.
(Image Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser)
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Just now reading 'Lucifer's Hammer', by Larry Niven. Written in 1977, it describes a 'visit' from a comet into our neighborhood, and the resulting effect on the world. Fascinating, and strangely predictive.
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oh goody
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Wonder if it is a result of where our solar system has moved/revolved in the galaxy.
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I'm sure millions, maybe tens or hundreds of millions, possibly billions of these have passed through our Solar System before we could start detecting them.
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