It does not appear to be either a comet or an asteroid, and it is moving straight towards our sun at an incredible speed. If initial reports from Hawaii are verified, the inbound velocity is in excess of half the speed of light. Dr. Franklin, an astrophysicist at Kitt Peak, noted that this object is not on a collision course with the earth, but it does appear to be headed directly for the sun. He noted that the current trajectory places the object no closer to the earth than 50 million miles during its approach to the sun. The distance of the new object is still undetermined, so there are no current estimates regarding its arrival date.
Astronomers hope to have distance and revised speed estimates available within a few days.
Its size is also currently undetermined. One area of concern by astronomers involves the effect of a collision between this mysterious object and the sun. If it is large enough, presumably planet-size or larger, a collision with the sun could have effects on the earth. However, University of Arizona astronomers have been quick to point out that this scenario is extremely remote. According to Dr. Franklin, no object larger than an atomic nucleus has ever been detected at these high speeds within our portion of the galaxy, the Milky Way.