Interstellar Space

meteor hero

Confirmed: An interstellar meteoroid - a rock from another star! - burned up in Earth’s atmosphere in 2014

It's the first interstellar meteoroid ever confirmed.

By Phil Plait 1 month ago

Liz James Webb Space Telescope GETTY

James Webb Space Telescope will be able to see more strange things that visit us from interstellar space

It can see things up close from really, really far away.

By Elizabeth Rayne 2 months ago

Phil Plait Bad Astronomy Local Bubble Art

A thousand-light-year-wide bubble around the Sun was blown by the ghosts of long-dead stars

Local Bubble carved by supernova beginning 14 million years ago.

By Phil Plait 4 months ago

Artwork showing what the surface of the comet 2/I Borisov might look like. Credit: ESO/M. Kormesser

The interstellar comet Borisov was shiny and new when it passed through our solar system

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

Artwork depicting the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua, which may be a flattened pancake of nitrogen ice. Credit: William Hartmann

Our first interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua may be an ice chunk blasted off an alien Pluto

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

Artwork depicting what ‘Oumuamua might look like; observations indicate it’s highly elongated. But where did it come from? Credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser

Is the alien chunk 'Oumuamua actually a hydrogen iceberg?

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) glows green due to the presence of diatomic carbon, common in comets. Credit: Damian Peach

A tale of two comets: ATLAS shrugs, Borisov is finally weird

By Phil Plait 2 years ago

Ross 573 (arrowed), a red dwarf star, may be the home for the second known interstellar visitor to our solar system, the comet 2I/Borisov. Credit: SIMBAD/Aladin/DSS

Where does the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov come from?

By Phil Plait 2 years ago

The interstellar comet 2I/Borisov, an alien visitor from another star. The pointy ears are a dead giveaway. NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (University of California, Los Angeles)

Update: The interstellar comet 2I/Borisov is still not acting very alien

By Phil Plait 2 years ago

Hubble Space Telescope image of the comet 2I/Borisov (formerly C/2019 Q4 (Borisov)). The blue color was added to a grayscale image. Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (University of California, Los Angeles)

Hubble observes an alien visitor: the comet 2I/Borisov

By Phil Plait 2 years ago