Scientists have just discovered a comet in the solar system, the second in the history of observations to be sent out of the system by one of our giant planets. The first comet was sent to wander between the stars in 1980 by Jupiter. The new comet received the necessary acceleration after its approach to Saturn in 2022. The 45-year difference between these events hints that this happens more often than scientists imagined.
Image source: NASA
Comet C/2024 L5 was discovered on June 14, 2024 by the ATLAS robotic planetary defense system as object A117uUD (asteroid). Later, the object was identified as a comet and assigned the appropriate index. A group of scientists studied the object, becoming interested in its high speed. Calculations showed that comet C/2024 L5 should have arrived into the system from outside. Interstellar objects are rare guests in our system and therefore attract increased attention.
A group of scientists from the Complutense University in Madrid (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) conducted 145 observations of the comet over the course of less than 32 days. It turned out that comet C/2024 L5 in January 2022 approached Saturn at a distance of 0.00687 astronomical units. This caused the comet to fall inside the so-called Hill sphere, which gave the object acceleration and changed its orbit to go beyond the system. The encounter with Saturn so strongly influenced the comet’s original trajectory through our system that it made it impossible to accurately determine the original orbit. But it was guaranteed to be an object from our system, and not from interstellar space.
The first comet confirmed to have been sent out of the solar system was Comet C/1980 E1 (Bowell). It was thrown out of the system by its approach to Jupiter on December 9, 1980. The new comet C/2024 L5 became the second confirmed object of its kind. Of the interstellar objects, two have been reliably confirmed: comet Borisov and the asteroid Oumuamua. There is another object that exploded over the Pacific Ocean, which is credited with the fate of the interstellar hulk. But a wall of speculation and speculation has been created around him, so let’s leave him alone for now.