1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,500
We're very excited to be studying the very first Interstellar comet

2
00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:09,140
that has ever been discovered and it's very exciting that Hubble's in position to

3
00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:11,920
conduct some very important observations of it.

4
00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,540
Hi, my name is Max Mutchler. I'm a scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

5
00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,460
And I work on solar system observations

6
00:00:19,940 --> 00:00:20,840
using the Hubble Space Telescope.

7
00:00:21,900 --> 00:00:27,442
Hubble's been studying comets throughout its mission, over 30 years. It's particularly well-suited, actually, to

8
00:00:27,491 --> 00:00:30,700
studying small solar system objects because it has such exquisite

9
00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:32,460
resolution and sensitivity

10
00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:38,362
and the source of all the activity in comets is a tiny nucleus that's hard to see and so Hubble gives us a really good

11
00:00:38,404 --> 00:00:40,240
chance to understand what's happening there.

12
00:00:41,420 --> 00:00:46,348
And this comet is unique because every other comet we've been studying with Hubble has been a part of our solar system,

13
00:00:46,391 --> 00:00:47,120
orbiting the Sun.

14
00:00:47,740 --> 00:00:53,040
This is the first one that we know isn't orbiting the Sun. It's coming from outside of our solar system and it's just passing through.

15
00:00:53,780 --> 00:00:55,780
And so we really want to study it to learn ...

16
00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:58,780
Is it like the comets that we're familiar with or is it totally different?

17
00:00:59,700 --> 00:01:01,200
And it's going to tell us something about

18
00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,860
what's going on in other solar systems, other star systems around our galaxy.

19
00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:11,098
This is really what you get into to science for, it's for moments like this. You're ready. Your team is ready. Hubble is

20
00:01:11,144 --> 00:01:11,420
ready.

21
00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:16,360
And these type of things happen at random moments and so you have to be ready when opportunity knocks.

22
00:01:17,500 --> 00:01:19,400
And so it's very exciting to be part of a team

23
00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:25,680
that can pounce when something like this happens and know that we're getting the best data we can possibly get from Hubble.

24
00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:32,223
And we're not going to miss this opportunity to learn whatever we can from this object that's just whizzing along and is

25
00:01:32,271 --> 00:01:33,820
going to be gone before we know it.