Unusual polarimetric properties for interstellar comet 2I/Borisov.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33785749.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-22000-x and PMC identifier 8009915.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
So far, only two interstellar objects have been observed within our Solar System. While the first one, 1I/'Oumuamua, had asteroidal characteristics, the second one, 2I/Borisov, showed clear evidence of cometary activity. We performed polarimetric observations of comet 2I/Borisov using the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope to derive the physical characteristics of its coma dust particles. Here we show that the polarization of 2I/Borisov is higher than what is typically measured for Solar System comets. This feature distinguishes 2I/Borisov from dynamically evolved objects such as Jupiter-family and all short- and long-period comets in our Solar System. The only object with similar polarimetric properties as 2I/Borisov is comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp), an object that is believed to have approached the Sun only once before its apparition in 1997. Unlike Hale-Bopp and many other comets, though, comet 2I/Borisov shows a polarimetrically homogeneous coma, suggesting that it is an even more pristine object.