- #1
- 22,195
- 6,878
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/
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.