Our Solar System Has A New Mysterious Visitor—what Is It?

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Just the third-ever confirmed interstellar object has been detected in our solar system. Here's what we know. (Spoiler: It's not aliens.)

On July 1, scientists operating a planetary defense facility saw something glimmering in the shadow of Jupiter, about 420 million miles from Earth. It certainly wasn't a near-Earth asteroid, nor was it a regular comet.

Within a matter of hours, it became clear that this voyager wasn't even from our solar system : Its orbit was too steep, its speed was too great. Astronomers quickly concluded that this was an interstellar object—a sojourner from another star.

These entities are, for the moment, vanishingly rare. This interstellar object is just the third ever confirmed.

Serendipitously, scientists caught as it was making its way into the solar system, which means they will get to study it for several months and uncover its many secrets.

"Astronomers around the world will be pointing their telescopes, large and small, at this object… providing us with clues about its home planetary system," says Sarah Greenstreet , an astronomer at the University of Washington. 

Here's everything we know so far about our solar system's latest interstellar visitor—and how scientists plan on resolving its mysteries in the coming weeks and months.

Like asteroids and comets , interstellar objects are thought to be remnants from a time when planets were first forming or the ruins of wrecked worlds and moons. But instead of originating around our sun, they hail from another planetary system entirely. As such, finding them is of paramount importance to astronomers.