Mysterious travellers bearing gifts

Pythagorean Astronomy

The first interstellar object to be discovered was 'Oumuamua, detected in 2017. Joined by Comet 2I/Borisov a couple of years later, astronomers are eagerly awaiting further discoveries of such objects, which were ejected from other solar systems. We explore what the link is between these interstellar objects and the history of star formation around the galaxy, thanks to new research by Prof Chris Lintott, Dr Ted Mackereth and Dr Michele Bannister. Chris and Ted explain how these two seemingly disconnected fields have led to new hypotheses about what we might learn from future observations.