Cigar-shaped asteroid came from another solar system

Washington : A rocky cigar-shaped object detected in space last month came from another solar system, astronomers said Monday as they confirmed an unprecedented observation.

The discovery may provide clues as to how other solar systems formed, said the researchers, who published their study in the British journal Nature.

The asteroid, named Oumuamua by its discoverers, is one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly elongated --perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide.

That odd shape is unprecedented among the some 750,000 asteroids and comets observed in our solar system where they formed, said the researchers.

They concluded that the cigar-shaped thing is from another solar system due to data on its orbit.

Asteroids like Oumuamua enter our solar system about once a year, these scientists said.