INTERSTELLAR VISITOR
The second interstellar visitor to our Solar System was discovered earlier this year by a Polish amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov. This one is a comet named C/2019 Q4 Borisov. It has a speed of 49 km per sec meaning its orbit cannot be part of our solar system with its current distance from the Sun. Its orbit is a hyperbolic orbit meaning it will leave our solar system back out into interstellar space from where it came. It rounds the Sun at twice the Earth Sun distance on 7 Dec 2019 near the orbit of Mars. The image below is taken from the Hubble Space Telescope on Oct 12 2019. It resembles comets in our own Solar System.
Comet 21 Borisov is hot on the heels of another interstellar object Oumuamua discovered in 2017. This one a rocky object of a cigar or frisbee shape. Can't wait for the Sci Fi novels these discoveries that will evolve from conspiracies about these 2 visitors.
The comet is currently in the constellation Leo at magnitude 16, way too faint for the naked eye and visually through an amateur telescope. Though possible using a CCD camera on a telescope and will try to image it in the next month on my telescopes at Dubbo and Coonabarabran. Go to this link to find more information on the comet, its position in the Solar System, and brightness. https://theskylive.com/c2019q4-info
