The Composition of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov Is Much More Alien Than We Thought
When the first known comet from interstellar space was spotted traversing the Solar System in late August of last year, astronomers snapped to attention. 2I/Borisov was an extraordinarily rare opportunity to study the formation of comets around other stars.
In those initial measurements, 2I/Borisov seemed a heck of a lot like comets from the outer Solar System. But a new analysis has revealed that our visitor is much more alien than we thought after all.
In the cloud of gas that the comet started to emit as it neared the Sun, a team of astronomers detected more carbon monoxide than they've ever seen in a comet within 300 million kilometres (180 million miles) of the Sun.
"This is the first time we've ever looked inside a comet from outside our Solar System," said astrochemist Martin Cordiner of the Catholic University of America, "and it is dramatically different from most other comets we've seen before."
Read more: https://www.sciencealert.com/turns-out-interstellar-comet-2i-borisov-is-much-more-alien-than-we-thought
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