Astrophysicists interested in the trajectory of a mysterious asteroid in interstellar space



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There are several hypotheses, and now a group of scientists has published a work that states that the main source of interstellar objects are the cantilevers of nearby stars in groups and young clusters.

The researchers calculated how the orbits of asteroids, comets and similar debris – the planets – would change as the stars orbit in different trajectories.

It turns out that if the stars converge to less than 250 astronomical units, and this can happen in clusters or in the first ten million years after the birth of the star, more than half of the extremities of the planets are torn off, unless the trajectory of the stars. it is opposite to the orbits of the planets.

Broken objects leave the system at a speed of 0.5 to 2 kilometers per second, a low speed compared to typical stellar speeds, so the journey to the next star can take a long time.

Scattered young clusters, such as the Orion Nebula, can “produce” interstellar objects with a mass of almost one Earth mass per star cluster.

Meanwhile, in compact swarms, the number can be up to 50 times higher. Most interstellar objects should be cometary, more similar to 2I / Borisov than ‘Oumuamua.

The results of the study were published in arXiv.



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