Do you know what an interstellar comet means? Astronomers have observed many comets over the centuries. They are usually formed within our solar system.

However, the comet 2I/Borisov is unique – it is the first comet to have come from interstellar space (beyond our solar system).

Till now, we have observed only two visiting objects from outside the solar system. One is comet Borisov and the other (the first one) is Oumuamua, a mysterious asteroid.

Interstellar comet Borisov was discovered in August 2019 by Ukrainian astrophysicist Gennady Borisov. Initially, it seemed like a common comet. However, new studies have shown that Borisov is, in fact, quite special.

The studies show that Borisov is the most pristine comet that has ever been studied by humans. In astronomy, ‘pristine’ means a comet that has never passed close enough to a star to be changed by its strong heat.

The Very Large Telescope in Chile helped astronomers measure the polarization (filtering) of light in Borisov’s dust grains.

They found that the polarization for Borisov was much higher than that of other comets in our solar system (except for the Hale-Bopp comet). Additionally, Borisov’s polarized light is uniform. This suggests that it has remained undisturbed since it formed (until it flew by our Sun in 2019).

The new studies also suggest that Borisov might have come from a star system that is similar to our own.

Watch a video on the difference between comets and other space objects like meteorites:

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