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A mysterious cigar-shaped object that astronomers spotted in the solar system last year could be an artifact of an extraterrestrial civilization sent to explore the neighborhood of the Earth, postulated two astronomers of Harvard.
The researchers explained the non-gravitational acceleration. displayed by the object called Oumuamua could be explained by the effect of solar radiation pressure on a sail-sail, a sail pushed forward as it reflects sunlight.
A group of Hawaiian astronomers for the first time spotted this object on October 19. Last year, we noticed in a few days its unusual characteristics – a dark red hue and a very elongated shape, about 800 m long – and a trajectory indicating an origin outside the solar system. "Oumuamua" means "scout" in Hawaiian.
Groups of astronomers from Europe and America who watched the object fading away as it moved away from the Sun were discussing whether it was a question of asteroid or comet.
Abraham Loeb, professor and president of astronomy, and Shmuel Bialy, postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, presented in an article submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters a new angle. Our article suggests that the first evidence of extraterrestrial technology could be pbaded by the Earth last year, "said Loeb, also director of the Harvard Institute of Theory and Computer Science, at the mail The Telegraph.
In June of this year, Israel and the United States, relying on multiple observations, reported an acceleration of Oumuamua that could not be explained by the effects of solar gravitation or by other objects of the solar system.
In an article published in the journal Nature, scientists attributed this acceleration to the gas emissions that occur when the ice of a comet vaporizes under the effect of the sun's heat.
But no comet tail has been seen around Oumuamua. Nor have astronomers observed the variations of its spin that would have caused a gaseous release similar to a comet.
Loeb and Bialy suggested that the non gravitational acceleration of Oumuamua could have been produced by a light sail. They pointed out that sails of light of similar dimensions had already been designed and built by our own civilization. Japanese engineers had launched a light sail called Ikaros.
The Harvard astronomers document shows that a light sail of a thickness of only 0.3 to 0.9 mm could survive a long journey into interstellar space, uninjured likely collisions with atoms or dust particles.
"One possibility is that Oumuamua is a light sail floating in interstellar space as debris of advanced technological equipment," they wrote in their paper, citing previous studies veils for interstellar travel.
"Alternatively, a more exotic scenario is that Oumuamua could be a fully operational probe, intentionally sent near Earth by an extraterrestrial civilization," they said.
Astronomers claimed that Oumuamua was presumed to have an elongated shape, not observed in any known asteroid or comet. The information on its shape comes from the variation of sunlight when it turns, said Loeb.
Even a thin sheet folded like an umbrella could appear at a distance similar to that of a rotating cigar depending on the variation of sunlight. I said.
Bialy stated that current observations do not rule out pancake type geometry. Studies looking more closely at the light signals suggest that Oumuamua could be very elongated, cigar-shaped or pancake-shaped.
"What is clear is that it can not have an almost spherical shape – like normal rocks. to know, "he said.
Loeb said the mystery of the origin of Oumuamua remains." It is unclear whether this is an old technological debris or The radio observatories do not detect any transmission (with instruments capable of detecting transmissions) at a power level greater than one-tenth of a single cell phone, "he said.
Astronomers have suggested to intensify the surveillance of similar objects. "Since it is too late to image Oumuamua with existing telescopes or to hunt it with chemical rockets, one writes, its origin and its properties likely to be decrypted only by looking for other objects of this type in the future. "
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