Instead of being a mix of water ice, rock and carbon-rich material left over from the formation of the solar system, ‘Oumuamua appears to be almost pure nitrogen ice. And rather than being a compact ball, the visitor is more elongated than any known body in the solar system and starkly different from the interstellar Comets and , the only other known interstellar visitors.
“‘Oumuamua is in a different category of object,” Desch told Space.com by email. “It’s much harder to find, but there are a lot more of them.”
Planets arise from the cloud of gas and dust left over after a star is born. The first few million years are chaotic as the growing worlds jostle for their place around the young star…