Gennady Borisov, an amateur astronomer from Crimea, Ukraine, discovered a new object from his observatory that appears to be a comet coming from the depths of interstellar space. Unlike most comets, it does not appear to be part of our solar system. The orbit of the new object is hyperbolic in shape and is probably not bound by the gravity our sun.
This object will pass through our solar system close to the orbit of the planet Mars and then head back into deep space never to visit us again.
Because this object was discovered as it is heading into our solar system it will give astronomers ample opportunity to observe this mysterious object for a long time and to learn about its chemical composition.
The makeup of this object can then be compared to other objects that are part of our solar system to see if it is made of the same material or something much different. Unlike a similar object named Oumuamua that was discovered in late 2017, object Borisov has a tail, putting it into the category of a comet.
It will be closest to the sun around December 10 of this year when it will also be at its brightest. At that point in time it is not known how bright it will eventually become, but amateurs with medium size instruments should able to take images of it.
