› Forums › Comets › C/2017 U1 (PANSTARRS). An interstellar comet? › This object has been
7 November 2017 at 11:23 pm
#578730
Nick James
Participant
This object has been redesignated 1I/ʻOumuamua in MPEC 2017-V17. The “1I” is a new designation and it signifies that this is the first confirmed interstellar object to be detected transiting our Solar System. The pronunciation of the name is (ō’u-mu’-a-mu’-ă) and, according to the MPEC, the name is of “Hawaiian origin and reflects the way this object is like a scout or messenger sent from the distant past to reach out to us”. This is probably the first of many interstellar objects that will be discovered over the coming decades given the sensitivity of modern sky surveys.