Matthew Payne, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Interstellar interlopers are objects formed outside the solar system, but observed passing through it. The only two interlopers identified to date are the asteroid 1I/`Oumuamua and the comet 2I/Borisov. I will describe our understanding of how such objects are likely to have formed, what they are likely to be composed of, and how large a population of such objects is expected to exist. I will then describe some recent work to (a) estimate the number of these objects that are likely to be discovered over the next few years by the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the NEO Surveyor mission, and (b) understand the plausibility of launching a mission to intercept one of these interlopers.