[nathanielc]

> So now that we now to look for them, it may be possible that we'll be able to find others, at least before the probe reports back from Proxima Centauri.

To me this is the most exciting part of the discovery. Previous research was quite pessimistic about our ability to observe these kinds of interstellar comets[1]. Finding the few interstellar comets among the many objects within our solar system requires effort and specialized methods. Since our previous estimates indicated that we would not be able to observe many of these interstellar comets, it did not seem like looking for them was worth the effort. Now that has changed.

Since previous estimates indicated that this discovery should not have been likely, we can be reasonably sure that previous estimates were incorrect. Meaning it now seems worth the effort to begin looking for them.

With the LSST[2] coming online in the next year or so, our ability to observe such objects will be dramatically improved over current telescopes including Pan-STARRS which discovered this one.

[1] (Disclaimer: I am an author of a previous paper which concluded that these kinds of discoveries would be nearly impossible with current telescopes. Never have I been more happy to be wrong) My paper along with several others are referenced in the Nature letter.

[2] https://www.lsst.org/

[eru]

Seems very similar to when they found the first exoplanets. The first few were big news, and now they are routine.