the.com/interstellar object
a cosmic tourist that formed around a star that isn't ours and never stays long.
means an object like an asteroid or comet that originated outside our solar system and is just passing through, unbound by the sun's gravity.
from the term entered common use in 2017 after 'oumuamua barreled through the solar system on a trajectory that made clear it came from interstellar space and was headed right back out.
first confirmedoumuamua, detected october 2017, cigar-shaped and puzzling
second oneborisov, 2019, a comet behaving like a comet
trajectory tellhyperbolic orbit means it never returns, ever
population estimatetrillions may drift through our galaxy unnoticed