Is the mysterious space object spotted zooming through space a comet? An asteroid? A UFO piloted by little green aliens? NASA isn't sure (well, on the first two at least. The third option is pretty much off the table).
The U.S. space agency does think the object recently spotted on telescopes is likely from outside our solar system, which, if true, would make it the "first interstellar object to be observed and confirmed by astronomers."
"We have been waiting for this day for decades," said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. "It's long been theorized that such objects exist -- asteroids or comets moving around between the stars and occasionally passing through our solar system -- but this is the first such detection."
Chodas said more data is needed to confirm the object is truly an interstellar visitor. For now, it is being called the less-than-catchy name A/2017 U1 but that could change when more information is known.
NASA scientists said they believe the object is less than a quarter mile in diameter and is traveling at almost 16 miles per second. It's is not a threat to Earth, safely passed our planet on Oct. 14 at a distance of about 15 million miles.
The object was discovered Oct. 19 by the University of Hawaii's Pan-STARRS 1 telescope during a nightly search for near-Earth objects, NASA said. Astronomers are currently working to point telescopes towards the object to obtain more data. Once that's done, the information will be analyzed so scientists can determine more about its origin and composition.
Whatever it is, NASA is fairly certain it's a unique object.
"This is the most extreme orbit I have ever seen," said Davide Farnocchia, a scientist at NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "It is going extremely fast and on such a trajectory that we can say with confidence that this object is on its way out of the solar system and not coming back."
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