AN EXPERIENCED STUDY found out that there are likely interstellar bodies in our Solar System that have been around for many years, even though they haven’t yet been located by astronomers.
A new analysis says that since a few intergalactic bodies passed through Earth’s galaxy in a period of three years, there’s a high chance the Earth’s rotation captured one.
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Astroid Oumuamua, which passed our Solar System in 2017, was the first Interstellar Object that astronomers had ever discovered.
Comet 2I Borisov, the second ISO in our galaxy to travel through it’s journey, also traveled through 2019
The ISOs have accumulated an enormous amount of research and speculation, as scientists claim that there will be many more interstellar object than these two. Science Alert reported.
New findings by scientists in Study The mysterious space objects are said to leave quickly, and they claim that some have been caught in the Solar System.
The Solar System is ancient, and although ISOs are not common, it has been concluded by astronomers that many passed our orbit. Some can also be observed in orbits.
This month’s study is titled Close Encounters: Exploring Interstellar Objects In Near Earth Orbit.
Diptajyoti mukherjee was the paper’s first author. A graduate student from Carnegie Mellon University who also published it with Amir Siraj.
Astronomers test the theory that by looking at ISO images, some objects may be on near-Earth orbits rather than in solar orbits.
As it’s difficult to take pictures of solar systems, scientists have discovered that studying ISOs can give them a deeper understanding about other systems.
According to the study, the interstellar alien objects that are in our orbit offer a rare opportunity “to investigate the formation and evolutionary processes of planet systems including our own.”
Many astronomers are also interested in whether there is any life within our Solar System.
In the paper, it is stated that ISOs are captured by the planets of the solar systems into orbits with bounds.
According to some research, the Vera Rubin Observatory is expected to find five ISOs a year.
The Oort Cloud may also contain more ISOs, than the native Solar System Objects in our orbit.
Other research reportedly suggests that cosmic rays could possibly erode most ISOs to nothing while some other studies show that many ISOs would likely be pulled into Jupiter and destroyed.
There is a difference in that the papers do not mention examining captured ISOs on near-Earth Orbits.
ISO LIFESPAN
This new study shows that even if ISOs are currently captured in the near-Earth space, they do not last very long. However, this does not mean there is no ISOs at present.
According to this paper, ISOs that Jupiter captured into orbits near Earth have a life expectancy of approximately 50,000 years. Those captured by Earth-Moon orbits are estimated to have an approximate half-life time of 130,000 years.
The population of ISOs that have been captured by Jupiter has dropped to 10 percent in just 800,000 or 2.1 million years.
They would be very small, unlike the famous Oumaumua and Comet Borisov.
This study shows that the majority of ISOs are about one-meter diameter.
Scientists could not interfere with the technology to capture a huge object such as Borisov, or Oumuamua in our orbit.
A CLOSE LOOK
Diverse scientific authors found there may be more ISOs hidden amongst other NEOs, which indicates the importance of studying the NEOs further.
Astronomers say that to really get a close look, you have to go and examine the comets.
Scientists think that ESA’s Comet Interceptor Mission could achieve this, since a robot spacecraft can wait until an ISO suitable is found at the Sun-Earth Point.
It could intercept, track and take a sample of the ISO’s tail.
The authors of Close Encounters of Interstellar Kind : Exploring Interstellar Objects near Earth Orbit said, “By detecting interstellar object and studying them,”
We can study the origins and properties of these objects and learn more about exoplanetary systems, our Solar System and their formation.
According to reports, ESA and JAXA (the Japanese Space Agency) plan on launching the Comet Interceptor by 2029.