Queen's University scientist tracks "alien" object

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Friday, 27 October 2017 15:08

By Adam Evans

A Queen's University scientist is tracking the first known object to travel into our solar system from another Sun.

A/2017 U1 was first spotted by experts in Hawaii.

Now, Professor Alan Fitzsimmons in Belfast is leading an international team which thinks the comet or asteroid was thrown out of another star system as a planet was formed.

Professor Fitzsimmons said: "By Wednesday this week it became almost certain this object was alien to our solar system. We immediately started studying it that night with the William Herschel Telescope in the Canary Islands, then on Thursday night with the Very Large Telescope in Chile."

Adding, "It sends a shiver down the spine to look at this object and think it has come from another star."