This was a unique and extremely special discovery for the astronomical community. Several weeks ago, telescope Pan-STARRS 1 in Hawaii detected an unknown object that did not belong to our Solar System. Now, thanks to the observations of the ESO Very Large Telescope in Chile and many other observatories around the world, we know that the object had been travelling through space for millions of years before entering our Solar System.
The Hawaiian team named it “Oumuamua”, a Hawaiian word meaning “messenger coming from far away and arriving first”. Despite it only being within reach of telescopes for a few days, astronomers were able to carry out a fairly detailed study of it. This asteroid has the appearance of an elongated metallic or rocky body, about 400 metres long and dark red in colour. It was also found that its brightness varied a great deal as it turned on its axis, and that it is completely inert, with no indication of dust around it.
This event surprised astronomers a great deal, and we are very eager to share any new information with you.
Below is a link with additional information: “Oumuamua”, el primer asteroide interestelar