Interstellar Comet
This image composed from multiple exposures and provided by NSF's NOIRLab shows a comet streaking across a star field above the International Gemini Observatory on Cerro Pachon, near La Serena, Chile.
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Telescope observations reveal a growing tail on the comet that's visiting from another star. Released Thursday, the pictures taken by the Gemini South telescope in Chile are the best yet of the recently discovered comet. They show a wide coma of dust and gas around the ice ball as it speeds closer toward the sun, and also a tail that's more extended than it was in previous shots. The National Space Foundation's NOIRLab says these new images confirm that the comet is becoming more active as it plows harmlessly through our solar system. It's only the third known interstellar object to venture our way.