Interstellar visitors are entering our Solar System: scientists have discovered their point of origin.

Scientists assert that celestial bodies like asteroids and comets can travel from one star system to another. Humanity has already witnessed something similar: the Borisov comet and 'Oumuamua, which invaded the Solar System and left just as swiftly, reports IFLScience.

Currently, researchers lack precise data on the origins of these interstellar objects, but they suspect that the closest star system is to blame.

This refers to Alpha Centauri – a triple star system, with one of its stars, Proxima Centauri, being the nearest star to the Sun at a distance of 4.25 light years.

Stars possess a significant gravitational influence, yet some objects can still escape to other stars. Notably, the Alpha Centauri system is gradually moving closer to the Sun at a speed of 22 km/s. At this rate, the system will be just 3 light years away from the Sun in about 28,000 years. After that, Alpha Centauri will begin to drift away.

Therefore, Gregg Oul and Paul Wiegert from the University of Western Ontario calculated how many of its cosmic rocks could reach our corner of the Universe, and the result is impressive.

In the outer region of the Solar System lies the Oort Cloud – a region filled with comets and asteroids that may extend up to 1.5 light years from the Sun. If the Alpha Centauri system loses as many objects as the Solar System, then according to Gregg and Wiegert's estimates, there are about a million interstellar objects larger than 100 meters within the Oort Cloud that have been sent by our neighbor.

However, the challenge in detecting such objects lies in their minuscule size. The volume of one of these objects compared to the entire Oort Cloud is akin to the volume of a white blood cell compared to the size of the Sun. The probability of finding one of these objects in Saturn's orbit is low, about one in a million.

The good news is that the Solar System becomes an easier target as Alpha Centauri approaches. Thus, we are likely to encounter more of its interstellar objects — up to 10 times more during the closest approach.

Even now, among the multitude of meteors that fall to Earth each year, around 10 of them originate from Alpha Centauri. This number is also expected to increase tenfold.

"Understanding the mechanisms by which material can be transferred from Alpha Centauri to the Solar System not only deepens our knowledge of interstellar transport but also opens new avenues for exploring the interconnectedness of star systems and the potential for material exchange throughout the Galaxy," the authors state in their article.

Recall that a giant interstellar object distorted the Solar System. Scientists believe that an object significantly larger than Jupiter could have approached the Sun closely enough to alter the orbits of four planets in the Solar System.