Scientists spot object possibly from outside our solar system 'headed for Earth'

Scientists have detected an object they believe may have originated from another star-system - and it appears to be heading in Earth's direction.

TheEuropean Space Agency (ESA) said today that its scientists have detected what could be the third-ever extragalactic object to find its way to the Milky Way. At present, the service said, the harlmess object - which has been designated A11pl3Z - is several hundred millions of miles away from Earth, where it is rounding onJupiter. From there, it will speed in Earth's direction, but it won't reach anywhere near the planet, and is expected to instead stop by one of our closest neighbours, Mars.

READ MORE: Huge 10-storey asteroid hurtles towards the Moon and could spark 'massive consequences'

Officials can't say what the object is at present - it's either a rocky asteroid or icy comet, neither of which is uncommon in our galaxy - how big it is, or what shape it is. The ESA plans to make further observations to confirm exactly from whence A11pl3Z came, and its US counterparts NASA are also monitoring the situation.

Astrophysicist Josep Trigo-Rodriguez of the Institute of Space Sciences near Barcelona, Spain, believes it is an interstellar object based on its odd path and extreme speed cutting through the solar system.

Writing about A11pl3Z in an article for The Conversation, Dr Trigo-Rodriguez said "certain aspects of its extended appearance" could point towards the object being a comet. He wrote: "There are certain aspects of its extended appearance that could point to it being a comet. However, this will need to be confirmed in the coming weeks as it moves deeper into the solar system.

He added: "On the other hand, it is normal for an object subjected to the extremely low temperatures of interstellar space for millions of years to take longer than normal to 'wake up' from its slumber."

He estimates its size at roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) across, and notes that it won't even come close to our planet. The Scout program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Center for the Study of Minor Bodies (CNEOs), has completedly ruled out any risk of a potential Earth impact.

The closest it will come, the program estimates, is around 284 million kilometers (just over 176 million miles). The first confirmed interstellar visitor was in 2017.

It was dubbed Oumuamua, Hawaiian for scout, in honor of the observatory in Hawaii that discovered it. Classified at first as an asteroid, the elongated Oumuamua has since showed signs of being a comet.

The second object - and A11pl3Z's direct predecessor - confirmed to have strayed from another star system into our own is 21/Borisov, discovered in 2019 and believed to be a comet.