Darryl Seligman, a researcher at the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University (USA), said that scientists will soon be able to find out how many interstellar objects are in the Solar System. Although astronomers have long predicted the existence of interstellar objects, the first such object was recorded recently, in 2017. 1I/Oumuamua happened. Probably, there may be many such guests on the outskirts of the Earth.

But how much exactly? New observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope and the Vera Rubin Observatory under construction in Chile will help answer this question. The research will likely allow us to understand the nature of interstellar guests.

If the orbiting James Webb observatory had become operational in 2017, scientists would have been able to obtain more detailed images of 1I/Oumuamua and understand what was causing it to move. The research program is now ready if something similar is discovered in the solar system.

The Vera Rubin Observatory will help discover many more interstellar objects in our system and determine which of them are dark comets (objects that no longer form tails as they approach the Sun). Scientists will have the opportunity to see even small and faint objects located far from the Earth.