I saw this today on The Atlantic – An Interstellar Visitor Had a Sad Story to Tell: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/04/comet-has-spent-its-existence-almost-entirely-alone/618518/. Much longer article.
MARINA KOREN April 6, 2021
In 2019, Gennady Borisov, an amateur astronomer in Crimea, discovered his seventh comet. This icy object wasn’t like the others Borisov had found, or like any of the other comets in the solar system. This one wasn’t orbiting the sun.
Instead, it had been drifting alone in interstellar space, following its own path, until one day, it entered our solar system and grazed past the sun. Warmed by the heat of a star, for the first time in who knows how long, the icy comet thawed just a little bit.
–snip–
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/04/comet-has-spent-its-existence-almost-entirely-alone/618518/
Pretty interesting article as I haven’t studied much about comets lately.
