THE SPACE BETWEEN MARS AND JUPITER — NASA says a recently discovered asteroid is our solar system's first interstellar visitor. <br /> <br />The asteroid was discovered by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System in Hawaii on October 19, 2017. <br /> <br />NASA-funded research published in the journal Nature says it is the first interstellar object to enter our solar system and will travel inside it for over a year. <br /> <br />Scientists speculate the asteroid is 400 meters long, and around 40 m wide. A lot about it is unknown, but the asteroid could be made up materials like metals or rocks, and is likely to be billions of years old. <br /> <br />NASA says the asteroid will exit the solar system in January 2019 after passing through Saturn's orbit. It will next head for the Pegasus constellation.
