VLT Discovers First Interstellar Asteroid is like Nothing Seen Before
Astronomers have discovered an interstellar asteroid for the first time and are eagerly studying it before it leaves the Solar System.
They have charted its brightness, colour and motion through the sky with ESO's Very Large Telescope and other telescopes around the world and in space.
The asteroid is unlike anything seen before in the Solar System. It's at least 400 metres long, highly elongated, dark and reddish in colour.
The object is now zipping away from the Sun and will continue its tour of the galaxy at a breakneck pace of 95000 kilometres/hour.
Interstellar objects are very faint and hard to spot, so these observations are really #rockin'
Transcribed by ESO, translated by —