The first confirmed visitor from outside our solar system sped past and vanished
In October 2017, astronomers in Hawaii spotted a fast-moving, elongated object on a trajectory too steep to be bound by the Sun's gravity, the first interstellar object ever confirmed passing through our solar system. By the time telescopes turned to study it, 'Oumuamua was already too faint and distant to resolve clearly, leaving basic questions about its shape and origin still debated.