For only the second time, astronomers have spoptted an interstellar interloper wandering through our solar system. Comet 2I/Borisov was spoitted by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov on 30 August 2019 — since then it has been imaged by Hubble and studied in enough detail to work out where it came from. (Well, maybe. These things are hard.) It's not easy to spot, but it's worth making friends with a local astronomer to get a glimpse, becuase Borisov won't be in our skies for long ...
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Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.
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Things we talked about in this episode:
The Podcast Social Club — Live Show! Nov 22-23
2I/Borisov, first interstellar comet
Research papers on 2I/Borisov: Initial characterisation and detection of cyanide
‘Oumuamua, an interstellar “asteroid?”™
Comet Shoemaker Levy rams into Jupiter in 1994
Kruger 60, hometown of 2I/Borisov? (Original paper)
Comet Interceptor mission