The first interstellar object to visit the solar system may have been a fragment of an icy exoplanet, research suggests.

When 1I/'Oumuamua was first spotted in 2017, astronomers quickly determined that it came from outside the solar system. But although it was initially classified as a comet from another star system, it may actually be the skin of an "exo-Pluto," a completely unexpected class of Pluto-like objects anticipated to visit the sun.

"Everything about this object is consistent with it being a slab of nitrogen ice like you see on the surface of Pluto," said Steve Desch, an exoplanet researcher at Arizona State University. Desch presented his findings in July at the Progress in Understanding the Pluto Mission: 10 Years after Flyby conference in Laurel, Maryland.

Instead of being

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