‘Wandering asteroid’ enters solar system

A LOST interstellar asteroid has entered the solar system after wandering between the stars for hundreds of millions of years, scientists believe.

The unique object, named Oumuamua, is highly elongated, about 400 metres (1,312 ft) long and coloured dark red. It is the first space rock from outside the solar system ever observed by astronomers.

A telescope in Hawaii designed to spot Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) picked up the asteroid on October 19 as a faint point of light moving across the sky.

Further observations followed and orbital calculations showed beyond doubt that the object originated from outside the solar system.

Moving at 95,000 kilometres per hour (59,030 mph), scientists speculate that the asteroid is an interstellar wanderer that has stumbled across our solar system.

Dr Karen Meech, from the Institute for Astronomy in Hawaii, said: “Oumuamua may well have been wandering through the Milky Way, unattached to any star system, for hundreds of millions of years before its chance encounter with the solar system.”

The asteroid’s properties suggest it could have a high metal content and lacks significant amounts of water or ice. Its surface has been darkened by the impact of cosmic rays.