A new photo of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov taken using a spectrometer at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii is now the best obtained so far and can offer new information on this object that is going through the solar system. Astronomers Pieter van Dokkum, Cheng-Han Hsieh, Shany Danieli and Gregory Laughlin of Yale University captured this image on November 24 and it includes the comet’s tail, shown in its length of nearly 160,000 kilometers in a composition that puts together 2I/Borisov and the Earth.

An article published in the “Astrophysical Journal Letters” reports the detection of what have been interpreted as traces of water emitted by interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. A team of researchers led by Adam McKay of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center used the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico to study the light reflected from the comet detecting the “signature” of oxygen in large amounts. The most likely explanation for the presence of this element is that the ultraviolet light from the Sun broke the water molecules emitted into oxygen and hydrogen.

An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” reports an initial characterization of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov, initially designated as C/2019 Q4. A team of researchers used data collected using the Gemini North on the island of Mauna Kea, in Hawaii, and the William Herschel Telescope in the Canaries. The data confirm it comes from another star system, yet it has characteristics very similar to the comets of the solar system.

An object cataloged as C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) and identified as a comet discovered on August 30 by the amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov has a strongly hyperbolic trajectory that suggests its interstellar origin. This could be the first identified interstellar comet, with the advantage that it was discovered while it was still approaching the Sun so it will be possible to conduct more observations for months.