On: Hubble Observes First Confirmed Interstellar Comet

[sixothree]

So that means this is incredibly historic, yes? We have only witnessed one other interstellar object and we did not learn about it in time to make meaningful observations?

[dreamcompiler → sixothree]

It's historic in the sense that it's one of the first interstellar objects we've seen. But these things are almost certainly not rare; they only seem so because we've only recently become able to detect them. In 10 years sightings of interstellar objects won't even make the second-tier news feeds.

[sixothree → dreamcompiler]

When my mother was born plate tectonics was a hypothesis. When I was born proof of extra-solar planets did not exist.

I know this these objects have been hurling past us for billions of years, but the fact that we spotted one is exciting for me.