On the occasion of our second interstellar visitor to our solar system, 2I/Borisov, I was reminded of a talk I gave a year ago to a mixed student and faculty audience in the physics department at Portland State University. It was a non-technical (though mildly mathematical) presentation on1I/2017 U1 'Oumuamua, our first outside-solar system guest. Let's recall its journey for a moment; it will help put Borisov in perspective.
Artist's concept of interstellar object1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua) as it passed through the solar system after its discovery in October 2017. According to NASA, the aspect ratio of up to 10:1 is unlike that of any object seen in our own solar system. Image Credit: European Southern Observatory / M. Kornmesser
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