Comet A117uUD Goes Interstellar after Encountering Saturn in 2022

In summary, "Comet A117uUD Goes Interstellar after Encountering Saturn in 2022" details the journey of comet A117uUD, which, after a close encounter with Saturn in 2022, gained enough velocity to escape the solar system and embark on an interstellar trajectory. The event highlights the dynamics of celestial mechanics and the potential for comets to travel beyond the gravitational influence of the Sun.
  • #1
Astronuc
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
2023 Award
22,195
6,878
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ad65fc
Small solar system bodies may reach hyperbolic orbits after a close interaction with a giant planet. Comet C/1980 E1 (Bowell), with a current value of the eccentricity of 1.057733 ± 0.000008, reached its present-day path after a close encounter with Jupiter in 1980. Comet A117uUD was found by ATLAS South Africa on 2024 June 14. Its current orbit determination, based on 142 observations for a data-arc span of 31 days, places A117uUD among the bodies following hyperbolic orbits (19.51σ, eccentricity of 1.037 ± 0.002). However, it did not come from interstellar space. Here, we show that it reached its current hyperbolic trajectory after a close encounter with Saturn in 2022.

How it is reported in the media - Saturn throws comet out of solar system at 6,700 mph (10800 km/h): What astronomers think happened
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-throw-interstellar-solar-system/74644604007/
In a paper published in July, astronomers determined that the comet was flung away from Saturn at a speed fast enough to send it on a hyperbolic trajectory, meaning it had the momentum required to exit our solar system and enter interstellar space. However, the comet's origin before it came upon Saturn remains difficult to infer, the researchers wrote.
 
  • Like
Likes Borg and Drakkith
Astronomy news on Phys.org
  • #2
Astronuc said:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ad65fc


How it is reported in the media - Saturn throws comet out of solar system at 6,700 mph (10800 km/h): What astronomers think happened
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-throw-interstellar-solar-system/74644604007/
Is your post just for information or did you want a comment? The situation you report can't be too rare but spotting it will not be common because it involves a small thing, a long way away. I guess there will be as many inter stellar objects captured by planetary systems as objects flung out of an 'established' orbit round a star.
You have to take your hat off for the observers. We have an advantage of vast amounts of available data these days from the huge array of observatories and satellites. Big Data
 

Similar threads

Back
Top