1I/’Oumuamua, the first interstellar object to visit our solar system in 2017, belongs to a completely new class of space objects, scientists have discovered. It is a piece of an icy exoplanet, more specifically an “exo-Pluto,” a group of cosmic bodies that are highly unlikely to visit the Sun. “Everything about this object is consistent with it being a slab of nitrogen ice like you see on the surface of Pluto,” said Steve Desch, an exoplanet researcher at Arizona State University. 1I/’Oumuamua wasn’t spotted until 40 days after it had made its closest approach to the Sun. Canadian Robert Weryk spotted it using the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakalā Observatory, Hawaii, on 19 October 2017.
