Astronomy
Detecting Interstellar Objects Passing Through the Solar System
Quick fact
In October 2017, the Pan-STARRS1 telescope in Hawaii detected 'Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object, as a faint point of light moving against the background stars. It was already speeding past Earth and out of the solar system, and astronomers had only a few weeks to observe it before it disappeared forever.
Why this is interesting
Imagine a rock from another star system zipping through our cosmic neighborhood at 200,000 mph—how could we ever catch a glimpse of it? In 2017, we did exactly that.