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Recent observations and detections of interstellar objects (ISOs) passingthrough the solar system have sparked a wave of interest into these objects.Although rare, these ISOs can be captured into bound orbits around the Sun. Inthis study, we investigate the novel idea of capture of ISOs into near-Earthorbits and find that a steady population of ISOs exists among the currentpopulation of Near Earth Objects (NEOs). Using numerical simulations, we findthat the capture of ISOs into near-Earth orbits is dominated by Jupiter whichis $10^4\times$ more efficient in capturing ISOs compared to Earth. CapturedISOs are more likely to be in orbits with high eccentricities and lowinclinations. We also investigate the stability of captured ISOs and find thatthey are generally unstable and have an average survival life time of $\sim 1$Myr, consistent with lifetime of NEOs originating from outer asteroid belt, andare ejected from the solar system due to interactions with other planets or theSun. Our results have important implications for understanding the populationof ISOs in the solar system and possible future detection. We find that aboutone to a few $50-70$ m sized captured ISOs among NEOs would be detectable byLSST over its lifetime. By detecting and studying captured interstellarobjects, we can learn about the properties and origins of such objects, and theformation and evolution of exoplanetary systems and even our solar system.

Close Encounters of the Interstellar Kind: Examining the Capture of Interstellar Objects in Near Earth Orbit