ʻOumuamua
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ʻOumuamua is the first interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System. Formally designated 1I/2017 U1, it was discovered by Robert Weryk using the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakalā Observatory, Hawaii, on 19 October 2017, approximately 40 days after it passed its closest point to the Sun on 9 September. When it was first observed, it was about 33 million km from Earth and already heading away from the Sun.
ʻOumuamua on 28 October 2017
Artist's impression of ʻOumuamua
Interstellar object
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An interstellar object is an astronomical object in interstellar space that is not gravitationally bound to a star. This term can also be applied to an object that is on an interstellar trajectory but is temporarily passing close to a star, such as certain asteroids and comets. In the latter case, the object may be called an interstellar interloper.
Interstellar visitors in the Solar System cover the whole range of sizes – from kilometer large objects down to submicron particles. Also, interstellar dust and meteoroids carry with them valuable information from their parent systems. Detection of these objects along the continuum of sizes is, however, not evident.
Comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) might be a former interstellar object captured by the Solar System
2I/Borisov comet, the second confirmed interstellar object, photographed in late-2019 beside a distant galaxy