Confirmed Interstellar Object Paths

This illustration shows the paths through our Solar System of the two confirmed interstellar objects, Oumuamua in 2017 (formally known as 1I/2017 U1), discovered in 2017, and the comet 2I/Borisov, discovered in 2019. The paths of these objects are markedly different than the orbits of objects in our Solar System, making them easy to differentiate as interstellar objects. Rubin Observatory and the Legacy Survey of Space and Time will provide data that enables scientists to identify many interstellar objects early in the survey.