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Have we gotten better at detecting these objects in the past 5 years or is the solar system going through a bumpy area of Milky Way lately? We have observed (or

by dnw 1y ago

Have we gotten better at detecting these objects in the past 5 years or is the solar system going through a bumpy area of Milky Way lately? We have observed (or I have heard about) many interstellar objects in the past five years than any previous times.

bravoetch 1y ago
From wikipedia: "As of 2025, three interstellar objects have been discovered traveling through the Solar System: 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017, 2I/Borisov in 2019, and 3I/ATLAS in 2025" I would guess that observation improves over time. The wikipedia article is fascinating, estimating 10,000 such objects passing within Neptune's orbit in our solar system each day. I think that includes dust and sand sized objects.
eugenekay 1y ago
Computing Power has increased tremendously, along with the higher resolution of digital imaging technology compared to analog film plates. Sky Survey projects like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have become active in recent years, which generate Terabytes of spectrographic data each night which can be rapidly examined for differences from previous captures. In the past each exposure had to be hand-aligned on a Light table and “flipped” between to spot differences.
throwup238 1y ago
There has been a significant increase in NEO observation projects in the last eight years and there’s one coming online soon that should increase the detection capabilities even more. Pan-STARRS (discovered 1I/ʻOumuamua), Zwicky Transient Facility (2I/Borisov), and ATLAS (3I/ATLAS) are the major existing projects and the Rubin Observatory/LSST will be a huge upgrade. We’re going to detect a lot more if these objects, especially since a lot of the work of the projects are looking at historical data.
- coolspot 1y ago
  2I/Borisov was not discovered by Zwicky Transient Facility . The comet was discovered on 30 August 2019 by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov at his personal observatory MARGO in Nauchnij, Crimea, using a 0.65 meter telescope he designed and built himself.
  - zeven7 1y ago
    That’s interesting. If it was possible to do on a homemade telescope, then why were no interstellar objects discovered before 1A?
    - MalbertKerman 1y ago
      The hard part isn't having a telescope, but analyzing the images for objects that have moved between successive observations. Digital astrophotography and analysis software have been getting steadily cheaper and better, which leads to more amateur comet hunters each watching more sky, which has rapidly improved the odds of catching rare objects. I'm not sure how the progress of institutional and amateur observations compare. Obviously the big guys benefit from the same technological advancement, but I don't know whether the fraction of new objects discovered by amateurs has been growing or not. I suspect the odds of the first interstellar object being found by an amateur were still pretty long.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
dreamcompiler 1y ago
It's detection, not a particularly crowded area of space. These rocks are hard to see, and one needs at least 3 observations (in theory, but in practice more) to compute their path and determine that they're extrasolar. Within 5 years we'll probably be detecting several of them a week.
- dhosek 1y ago
  It’s worth noting that we went from wondering if other stars had planets to hitting 6000 detected so far in about four decades with just 33 years since the first discovery of an exoplanet (and 30 years since one was found orbiting a main-sequence star—that first was actually two planets which orbited a neutron star).
  - SiempreViernes 1y ago
    A funny overview of the recent history https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gai8dMA19Sw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gai8dMA19Sw
    - dreamcompiler 1y ago
      Somewhere in the galaxy, silicon-based lifeforms who enjoy swimming in molten lead have trained their telescopes on our solar system and mapped it. They have assumed all the planets here are incapable of supporting life, except for the second one: It's right in their habitable zone. Their ships are speeding toward Venus as we speak.
      - alganet 1y ago
        If _some_ kind of life is possible in Venus, shouldn't Venus have it? That's how life works on Earth. If it _can_ live somewhere, it's probably already there. We think that's related to how it can survive and adapt, so it's reasonable to assume other life would be similar in that regard. Therefore, by this logic, if Venus is able to sustain any life, it should already be there. I know it sounds weird. What if life never got there? Well, it had plenty of opportunity. The universe is old and lots of things happened in it already. Maybe life is a late addition to the universe, and we're one of the first instances of it. Or maybe it's rare, and we're lucky. Both the "life is new" and "life is rare" ideas, however, paint a picture of Earth being a special case somehow. "We are a special case" is not a very satisfying answer though (from the scientific point of view).
cheschire 1y ago
5 years ago space got a whole force dedicated to it in the US. Perhaps this is the result of an increase in military research efforts? The timing is an interesting coincidence if anything.
- zeven7 1y ago
  We know exactly who discovered these objects, what tech they were using, and where the funding came from, and it wasn’t from space force.
  - cheschire 1y ago
    "we" does not include me, which is why I posed it as a question, and made the allowance that it's at least an interesting coincidence to me. I'm not sure why that warrants a flood of downvotes, especially increasing after your message called me out, but hey I guess that's HN now.
    - quuxplusone 1y ago
      FWIW, HN values directness and precision, even in questions. I bet if you'd said "Did increased military spending have anything to do with this?" you'd get a quick answer "no" and few downvotes; but what you actually said was "Perhaps this is the result of an increase in military research efforts" with a question mark on the end, and I expect HN was reacting to that.
    - mindslight 1y ago
      Your original question is indistinguishable from a societal suicide cultist "just asking questions" to promote dear leader. There's an endless flood of that, so the best thing to do is downvote (or flag) and move on. Engaging just drives further engagement.

by dnw 1y ago

bravoetch 1y ago

From wikipedia: "As of 2025, three interstellar objects have been discovered traveling through the Solar System: 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017, 2I/Borisov in 2019, and 3I/ATLAS in 2025" I would guess that observation improves over time. The wikipedia article is fascinating, estimating 10,000 such objects passing within Neptune's orbit in our solar system each day. I think that includes dust and sand sized objects.

eugenekay 1y ago

Computing Power has increased tremendously, along with the higher resolution of digital imaging technology compared to analog film plates. Sky Survey projects like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have become active in recent years, which generate Terabytes of spectrographic data each night which can be rapidly examined for differences from previous captures. In the past each exposure had to be hand-aligned on a Light table and “flipped” between to spot differences.

throwup238 1y ago

There has been a significant increase in NEO observation projects in the last eight years and there’s one coming online soon that should increase the detection capabilities even more. Pan-STARRS (discovered 1I/ʻOumuamua), Zwicky Transient Facility (2I/Borisov), and ATLAS (3I/ATLAS) are the major existing projects and the Rubin Observatory/LSST will be a huge upgrade. We’re going to detect a lot more if these objects, especially since a lot of the work of the projects are looking at historical data.

coolspot 1y ago
2I/Borisov was not discovered by Zwicky Transient Facility . The comet was discovered on 30 August 2019 by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov at his personal observatory MARGO in Nauchnij, Crimea, using a 0.65 meter telescope he designed and built himself.
- zeven7 1y ago
  That’s interesting. If it was possible to do on a homemade telescope, then why were no interstellar objects discovered before 1A?
  - MalbertKerman 1y ago
    The hard part isn't having a telescope, but analyzing the images for objects that have moved between successive observations. Digital astrophotography and analysis software have been getting steadily cheaper and better, which leads to more amateur comet hunters each watching more sky, which has rapidly improved the odds of catching rare objects. I'm not sure how the progress of institutional and amateur observations compare. Obviously the big guys benefit from the same technological advancement, but I don't know whether the fraction of new objects discovered by amateurs has been growing or not. I suspect the odds of the first interstellar object being found by an amateur were still pretty long.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

dreamcompiler 1y ago

It's detection, not a particularly crowded area of space. These rocks are hard to see, and one needs at least 3 observations (in theory, but in practice more) to compute their path and determine that they're extrasolar. Within 5 years we'll probably be detecting several of them a week.

dhosek 1y ago
It’s worth noting that we went from wondering if other stars had planets to hitting 6000 detected so far in about four decades with just 33 years since the first discovery of an exoplanet (and 30 years since one was found orbiting a main-sequence star—that first was actually two planets which orbited a neutron star).
- SiempreViernes 1y ago
  A funny overview of the recent history https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gai8dMA19Sw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gai8dMA19Sw
  - dreamcompiler 1y ago
    Somewhere in the galaxy, silicon-based lifeforms who enjoy swimming in molten lead have trained their telescopes on our solar system and mapped it. They have assumed all the planets here are incapable of supporting life, except for the second one: It's right in their habitable zone. Their ships are speeding toward Venus as we speak.
    - alganet 1y ago
      If _some_ kind of life is possible in Venus, shouldn't Venus have it? That's how life works on Earth. If it _can_ live somewhere, it's probably already there. We think that's related to how it can survive and adapt, so it's reasonable to assume other life would be similar in that regard. Therefore, by this logic, if Venus is able to sustain any life, it should already be there. I know it sounds weird. What if life never got there? Well, it had plenty of opportunity. The universe is old and lots of things happened in it already. Maybe life is a late addition to the universe, and we're one of the first instances of it. Or maybe it's rare, and we're lucky. Both the "life is new" and "life is rare" ideas, however, paint a picture of Earth being a special case somehow. "We are a special case" is not a very satisfying answer though (from the scientific point of view).

cheschire 1y ago

5 years ago space got a whole force dedicated to it in the US. Perhaps this is the result of an increase in military research efforts? The timing is an interesting coincidence if anything.

zeven7 1y ago
We know exactly who discovered these objects, what tech they were using, and where the funding came from, and it wasn’t from space force.
- cheschire 1y ago
  "we" does not include me, which is why I posed it as a question, and made the allowance that it's at least an interesting coincidence to me. I'm not sure why that warrants a flood of downvotes, especially increasing after your message called me out, but hey I guess that's HN now.
  - quuxplusone 1y ago
    FWIW, HN values directness and precision, even in questions. I bet if you'd said "Did increased military spending have anything to do with this?" you'd get a quick answer "no" and few downvotes; but what you actually said was "Perhaps this is the result of an increase in military research efforts" with a question mark on the end, and I expect HN was reacting to that.
  - mindslight 1y ago
    Your original question is indistinguishable from a societal suicide cultist "just asking questions" to promote dear leader. There's an endless flood of that, so the best thing to do is downvote (or flag) and move on. Engaging just drives further engagement.