Tracking the interstellar object 'Oumuamua to its home

A team of astronomers led by Coryn Bailer-Jones of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy has tracked the interstellar object 'Oumuamua to several possible home stars. The object was discovered in late 2017 – this was the first time astronomers have been able to observe an astronomical object from another star system visiting our own Solar System. Bailer-Jones and his colleagues used data from the ESA astrometry satellite Gaia to find four plausible stars where 'Oumuamua could have begun its long journey, more than a million years ago.

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Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Artist’s impression oft he interstellar object ‘Oumuamua. The object is either elongated as in this image, or else shaped like a pancake

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This animation (annotated) shows the path of the interstellar object `Oumuamua through the Solar System. Unlike all other asteroids and comets observed before, this body is not bound by gravity to the Sun.

It has come from interstellar space and will return there after its brief encounter with our star system. Its hyperbolic orbit is highly inclined and it does not appear to have come close to any other Solar System body on its way in.