Kinematics of the Interstellar Vagabond A/2017 U1

Eric Mamajek1, 2

1 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, M/S 321-100, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
2 Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
arXiv:1710.11364v1 [astro-ph.EP] 31 Oct 2017

Keywords: local interstellar matter – Oort Cloud – minor planets, asteroids: individual (A/2017 U1)
– stars: kinematics and dynamics – stars: individual (α Cen, Rigil Kentaurus, Proxima
Centauri, Luhman 16)

Corresponding author: Eric Mamajek

mamajek@jpl.nasa.gov
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Searches for, and speculation about, interstellar meteors and comets are discussed in the literature over the past
century (e.g. Opik 1932; Stern 1990). The first strong case of discovery of a small body of likely interstellar origin was
recently made by the Pan-STARRS survey – the hyperbolic asteroid A/2017 U11 .

Can A/2017 U1’s velocity before it entered the solar system provide any clues as to its origin? The best con-
strained orbit at the time of writing (29 Oct 2017) was from the JPL Small-Body Database Browser2 , using 86
observations over 15 days (UT 14-29 Oct 2017; solution JPL-8, 2017-Oct-29 10:45:18, produced by Davide Farnocchia,
JPL). This orbital solution lists perihelion distance q = 0.2544567 ± 0.0006499 au, eccentricity e = 1.1971887 ±
0.0016908, and semi-major axis a = -1.2904224 ± 0.0077688 au. The eccentricity e is >1 at 117σ significance, and
hence it is unbound. Plugging a into the the viz-viva equation yields the object’s velocity before it encountered the
solar system: v◦ = 26.22 ± 0.08 km s−1 . The orbit ephemeris run back to the year 1600 shows that the object’s
radiant was approximately αICRS , δICRS = 280◦ .14, +34◦ .15 (±0◦ .26, ±0◦ .12; 1σ). The ephemeris shows that
the projected trajectory in the past looks like a convergent spiral pattern, reflecting parallactic motion due to the
Earth’s orbit, with the quoted position at the center. These values translate to a Galactic velocity on the standard
system (following Perryman et al. 1998) of U, V, W = -11.325, -22.384, -7.629 km s−1 (±0.071, ±0.076, ±0.092 km s−1 ).

Could A/2017 U1 be a member of the Oort Cloud of the α Centauri triple system? Such a scenario might not be
N
completely unexpected as the tidal radius for the 2.17 M triple system (Kervella et al. 2017) should be of order rt
' 1.7 pc (formula in Mamajek et al. 2013), while the system lies only 1.34 pc away. α Cen consists of two Sun-like
stars A (Rigil Kentaurus) and B, and a red dwarf C (Proxima Centauri). α Cen is the only system whose tidal radius
is wider than its distance from the solar system. The α Cen system is summarized in Kervella et al. (2017), and its
cometary cloud was speculated upon by Hills (1981) and Beech (2011). Hills (1981) estimated that the Sun’s Oort
cloud extended to approximately ∼200 kau (∼1.0 pc). Given the M 1/3 scaling of the tidal field, one may expect the α
Cen Oort cloud to ∼1.3 pc, similar to the Sun’s distance to the system - i.e. the solar system may be on the outskirts
of α Cen’s cometary cloud. Kervella et al. (2017) recently calculated updated heliocentric Galactic velocities for α
Cen AB of U, V, W = -29.291, +1.710, -13.589 (±0.026, ±0.020, ±0.013) km s−1 and for Proxima of U, V, W = -29.390,
+1.883, -13.777 (±0.027, ±0.018, ±0.009) km s−1 . The velocity difference of 30.6 km s−1 between A/2017 U1 and the
α Cen system, and the fact they were only further apart in the past (∆ ' 5 pc 100 kyr ago), strongly argues that it has
no relation to α Cen. In the future, astronomers may discover objects from the outer parts of α Cen’s Oort cloud (ken-
taurids), which should have radiants near 243◦ , -17◦ (not far from the ecliptic in Scorpius) and velocities of ∼32 km s−1 .

The Galactic velocity vector of A/2017 U1 is plotted against those of the nearest stars (parallax > 300 mas) in
Fig. 1. Besides the velocity of α Cen AB and C from Kervella et al. (2017), velocities for the nearest stars are drawn
from Anderson & Francis (2012) and Hawley et al. (1997). The velocity for the brown dwarf binary Luhman 16 is
calculated using data from Garcia et al. (2017) and Kniazev et al. (2013): (U, V, W = -18.3, -27.5, -6.9 km s−1 ). The
velocity of A/2017 U1 is more than 20 km s−1 from any of the stars, and 9 km s−1 off from Luhman 16. The total
N
mass of the Luhman 16 binary is only 0.059 M , with predicted tidal radius of rt ' 0.5 pc. The combination of
separation (2.0 pc) and relative velocity (9 km s−1 ) rule out any connection between A/2017 U1 and Luhman 16 as well.

What velocities and trajectories might be expected of interstellar objects? Let us assume that interstellar asteroids
or comets share the distribution of velocities for nearby stars. Using the XHIP catalog (Anderson & Francis 2012),
we examine the U V W velocities for 1481 HIP stars within 25 pc with distances of <10% accuracy. This sample has
median velocity U, V, W = -10.5, -18.0, -8.4 km s−1 (1σ rms values of 33, 24, 17 km s−1 ). The XHIP sample is lacking
many local M dwarfs, however when comparing to a volume-limited sample of M dwarfs (Reid et al. 2002, U, V, W
= -9.7, -22.4, -8.9 km s−1 ; 1σ rms values of 37.9, 26.1, 20.5;), one finds similar values. One might expect a higher
concentration of interstellar small bodies near the centroid of the stellar velocity distribution. An object passing
through the solar system with the median U V W velocity of the XHIP d < 25 pc sample would have speed 22.5 km s−1
coming from radiant α, δ = 273◦ , +33◦ . This is remarkably similar to the parameters for A/2017 U1: radiant α, δ =

1 Object was originally designated C/2017 U1 (PANSTARRS) (http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K17/K17UI1.html), however

subsequent observations by. K. Meech with VLT found no evidence for a tail (http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K17/K17UI3.html).
2 https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=A%2F2017%20U1
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281◦ .090, +34◦ .585 and speed 26.02 km s−1 . In this light, A/2017 U1 has a velocity vector typical of what one would
expect of an interstellar small body drawn from the velocity distribution of nearby stars.

A flyby mission of A/2017 U1 would enable in situ study of the first macroscopic interstellar body ever encountered.
A sample return mission, or a mission capable of in situ chemical study of A/2017 U1, might constitute a logical
precursor to an interstellar mission - but within the vicinity of our own solar system. This would provide a unique
opportunity to conduct chemical study and radiometric dating of extrasolar material which formed around another star.

Sirius
Barnard’s
Ross 248
Luh 16 A/2017 U1
Wolf 359 Ross 154

L 726-8 Ross 128

Lac 9352

Lal 21185

Ross 128
Barnard’s
Sirius
Lac 9352 L726-8A Ross 154
A/2017 U1

Luh 16
Wolf 359
Lal 21185
Ross 248

Figure 1. Distribution of Galactic velocity components for A/2017 U1 and nearby stars (solar system barycenter velocity is at
origin) .

This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract
with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. EEM acknowledges support from the NASA NExSS pro-
gram, and thanks Davide Farnocchia (JPL) for discussions. This work used the JPL Small-Body Database Browser,
HORIZONS system, and Vizier.
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