Anomalous comet spotted in the solar system
Scientists are planning to explore one of the most unusual objects in the solar system. This body, dubbed 2014 UN271, is too large for a comet and too small for planets, New Atlas reports.
The diameter of the object ranges from 130 to 370 kilometers. It moves in a very elongated orbit. Periodically, it moves away so far from the Sun that it practically falls into interstellar space.
Now 2014 UN271 is located at a distance of 22 astronomical units from the Sun (recall that there is 1 AU between the Sun and the Earth). But in 2031, it will catch up with Saturn, and then scientists will have more opportunities to study it.
Calculations have shown that the next time the anomalous comet will be so close to our planet only after 612 190 years. The bizarre orbit of the cosmic stone makes it “wander” throughout the solar system, periodically approaching the sun and moving away from it.
It is extremely rare for an object orbiting such a distant orbit to make it to the inner solar system. Scientists plan to investigate the nature of this object and determine its origin.
Previously, scientists have discovered the nature of the asteroid Oumuamua. Presumably, it is a fragment of an icy planet.
