When an asteroid from outside our solar system was observed zipping through for the first time last year, it caused a lot of excitement. Now, a new study suggests another interstellar asteroid has actually been hiding here all this time.
This alien asteroid — named 2015 BZ509 — formed in another star system, but is now a permanent resident of our solar system, and it has been since our solar system’s formation 4.5 billion years ago, says the study published today in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.
The unusual asteroid — estimated to be about three kilometres in diameter — was actually discovered three years ago with the Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) at the University of Hawaii. The telescope is specifically designed to hunt for asteroids, especially those that could pose
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