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The first known permanent asteroid population was discovered in the new study. Asteroids have originated from outside our solar system.
Asteroids are believed to have been captured from other stars billions of years ago. They have been orbiting our sun and hiding in plain sight. The study has been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The newly discovered asteroids are believed to have been around almost since the birth of our solar system, 4.5 billion years ago in a star cluster, where each sun had its own asteroids and planets.
The asteroid known as “Oumuamua”, the first interstellar visitor made headlines in 2017, however, it was only passing.
Discovery of interstellar asteroids:
The study’s lead author, Dr. Fathi Namouni, explained that the proximity of the stars meant that in those early days they felt each other’s gravity much stronger than today. It allowed the asteroid to be dragged out of the system from one star to another.
In the new work, Dr. Namouni and co-author Dr. Maria Helena Morais performed numerical calculations with the purpose of turning the clock back to the early days of the solar system. He produced a snapshot that allowed them to see where the asteroids were particularly located.
During the snapshot time, the asteroids were orbiting the sun in a distant region that was beyond the reach of the original disk of the solar system and was also moving perpendicular to the orbital plane shared by other asteroids and planets.
These last two observations indicated that the group of asteroids must have been captured from the interstellar medium during the formation of the planet and that it did not originally belong to our solar system.
Interstellar asteroids and native asteroids:
Being able to differentiate between an interstellar asteroid and the native asteroid that is born in our solar system is something that astronomers have long wished for.
Scientists have identified 19 asteroids of interstellar origin. The discovered asteroids are currently orbiting as part of the group of asteroids known as Centaurs. It wanders among the giant planets of the solar system.
Discovery result:
The discovery of asteroids of interstellar origin will help understand the chemical and physical similarities and differences between asteroids born in the solar system and interstellar asteroids.
The recently discovered population of asteroids will give clues to how the capture of interstellar asteroids, the cluster of early sun births, and the role of interstellar matter in the chemical enrichment of the solar system and the configuration of its evolution occurred.
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