An international team of researchers led by Queen's University Belfast has confirmed that the interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua is a rocky object coated with organic-rich substances that came from a planetary system similar to ours and has been floating through space for millions of years.
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In 2017 we witnessed a solar eclipse cross the US, welcomed an interstellar visitor, and discovered some exciting Earth-sized exoplanets. Some astonishing images of the farthest reaches of our universe were also captured. Here we collect some of the most awe-inspiring space images of 2017.
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A team from the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4is) has put forward a proposal for Project Lyra, a mission to launch a probe to chase and intercept the interstellar asteroid ’Oumuamua, which passed close to the Sun in September 2017.
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With our current technology, the journey to Alpha Centauri would take millennia, but there are plans for tiny probes that could do it in as little as 20 years. Now, a physicist has detailed a method to use magnetic sails as a braking system to slow craft down to a cruising speed once they get there.
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The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has confirmed that the object provisionally designated A/2017 U1 is, in fact, an asteroid that came from outside the Solar System. "`Oumuamua," is different from any object seen before and has been roaming between the stars for hundreds of millions of years.
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Forty years ago, two explorers set out to shed light on the mysteries of the Solar System, getting up close and personal with our distant neighbors. Today both pioneers are still operating and heading out of our solar system to explore further than any spacecraft ever launched.
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NASA's Cassini orbiter has become the first spacecraft to determine the composition of dust particles originating outside of our solar system. The discovery grants a rare insight regarding the processes that may be occurring in the interstellar medium.
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The first batch of data from a $100 million effort to find signs of intelligent life beyond Earth has been released for public access.
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NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is currently riding the wave of an interstellar tsunami, as it continues its historic march out of our solar system. The tsunami emanated from our Sun, and was the third such phenomenon of its type to be detected by the robotic pioneer.
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