Comet 2I/Borisov may be the 'most pristine comet' ever observed; watch video

Astronomers have found that the interstellar comet – 21/Borisov may be the most pristine galactic object when observed from outside the solar system, the data from the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed. The comet, which is speculated to have arrived from a red dwarf star, became the first confirmed interstellar object to pass through the Earth’s solar system last year. Observed by Hubble’s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), the first confirmed comet to enter our solar system was found heavily composed of carbon monoxide and had had differing characteristics compared with the comets of Earth’s solar system, NASA’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) found. 

Known as Oumaumua in the Hawaiian language, which translates to ‘Scout’, the second interstellar object detected in earth’s planetary system is approximately the diameter of a small town, but when heated by the Sun, this interstellar comet’s tail can extend for millions of miles, NASA explained. It is a most pristine object to visit the solar system after origination somewhere in deep space. It was first discovered in 2019 by Ukrainian astrophysicist Gennady Borisov at the MARGO Observatory in Crimea, and its composition and uniqueness were studied by NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. The comet contained 50 percent more carbon monoxide than the water vapour, which made it look fuzzier, NASA explained. 

Light polarizations observed

“There are two new ways in which 2I/Borisov is unlike any known comet,” scientists said in studies published in journal Nature Communications and in the journal Nature Astronomy on March 30. According to the analysis made from European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, 2I/Borisov's coma was formed of an envelope of gases that scattered lights like dust grains. These light wave emissions rippled through space from the gaseous core causing polarization. In fact, researchers found that  2I/Borisov's coma was very polarized. Moreover, the scientists found the dust in 2I/Borisov's coma consisted of compact pebbles, approximately 0.08 inches (2 millimeters) in width. As per NASA’s release,  2I/Borisov is about the length of nine football fields, which made it relatively smaller than other comets in the solar system. 

[Image Credit: Twitter/@DrFunkySpoon]