An artist’s impression of comet 2I/Borisov. Image: ESO/M. Kormesser Comet 2I/Borisov, only the second body from interstellar space to be detected passing through our solar system, is one of the most pristine comets ever observed and likely never passed close enough to a star to be affected by solar wind and radiation. As such, researchers say, it carries the original chemical signatures of the clouds of gas and dust it formed from. And as it turns out, the comet likely formed in an environment not so different from our own. Discovered in August 2019 by amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov, detailed observations confirmed the comet originated outside Earth’s solar system. Now, using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, researchers have found 2I/Borisov “could represent the first truly pristine comet ever observed,” said Stefano Bagnulo of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium in Northern Ireland. Bagnulo led the new study published in Nature Communications.