Is Oumuamua an asteroid? A strange explanation that extraterrestrials

The space object named Oumuamua (Hawaiian for "scout" or "messenger") received a lot of attention overheated this week after a highly respected author of Harvard co-wrote an article suggesting an interstellar visit could have been an extraterrestrial spacecraft propelled by the pressure of solar radiation.

In fact, the new paper by Abraham Loeb and postdoctoral scholar Shmuel Bialy, who still follows the peer review and publication process, seems to have attracted more attention than the initial discovery in 2017 of the first cross our solar system beyond.

But the truth is that no one knows exactly what Oumuamua is and that it could be of extraterrestrial origin is not even necessarily the strangest theory advanced.

Previously, teams of researchers had suggested Oumuamua could be a probe and used radio telescopes to look for signs of artificial signals. These observations are all negative. Unfortunately, we will probably never be able to fully study Loeb and Bialy 's hypothesis because Oumuamua has been away from Earth at a very high speed for over a year now.

The astrophysicist and cosmologist Katie Mack (no relation) suspects that it is difficult to refute the theory "it could be extraterrestrials" could be a part of the calculation behind the publication of the document.

"If you propose something in the category of" not * obviously * wrong * and also HUGE IF TRUE ", the chances of publishing it are turning against it and are unlikely, and the unlikely rewards with high rewards could be tempting enough that it's worth it to face the eyes of your colleagues, "Mack tweeted about the diary and the huge response he's received.

In other words, something mysterious happens that is difficult or impossible to follow. Studies on, you can not completely exclude strangers as a plausible explanation. In addition, whenever extraterrestrials can be a plausible explanation, there is no doubt that someone intervenes and fills that void. This time, an astrophysicist and cosmologist from Harvard filled this void, which caused the convulsion of the Internet.

There is no tangible evidence that Oumuamua is an extraterrestrial spaceship – Loeb just noticed that it was moving in the same way as a so-called "light sailboat", like the one that the initiative Breakthrough Starshot proposes. work on. (Loeb also chairs the Breakthrough Starshot Advisory Committee.)

Loeb and Bialy's paper is just one of the literal writings on dozens of Oumuamua. This is not the first to come up with an artificial object and it's not even the strangest story proposed for the big interstellar cylinder or cigar, or whatever you think about it.

Here is a brief overview of other theories concerning the origin of Oumuamua. of.

The invisible universe made visible?

One of the oldest and most advanced explanations suggesting that Oumuamua might actually be a big chunk of "macroscopic dark matter". Dark matter is the invisible material that forms a large part of the universe.

"Contrary to common misconceptions, dark matter does not have to be in the form of elementary particles in weak interaction, but can be found in much larger fragments," says a very brief article. written by scientists from Case Western Reserve University in Canada. Institute and Stanford.

The researchers argue that if their hypothesis were true, the pbadage of Oumuamua could have changed the orbits of Mercury, the Earth and the Moon. Nobody has yet confirmed change to these planetary paths.

Crumbs from another solar system

One of the most popular explanations of the origin of Oumuamua in the literature is the idea that it remains from the planetary formation process around another distant star. Basically, an interstellar asteroid from all over the cosmos.

The first days of any solar system are thought to be turbulent and chaotic. With debris scattered everywhere, some may even be totally eliminated from the system.

At the poster:
Look at this:

NASA looking for exoplanets, and she has the eye …

5:46

A recent study used new data to attempt to accurately determine what star systems the vagrant object may have been exiled.

According to another theory, Oumuamua could come not from the remnants of planetary formation, but from the remnants of the destruction of a planet.

"I conclude that the origin of Oumuamua as a fragment of a planet disturbed by the tides, and then ejected by a dense member of a binary system could explain its peculiarities" , writes Matija Cuk, of the SETI Institute, in an article in Astrophysic Letters of the newspaper.

The idea is this: a clash with a dense red dwarf star may have torn a planet, projecting at least one cigar-shaped piece in our direction.

A Comet Coming Out of Coma

Another early explanation was that Oumuamua was a kind of strange comet on the other side of the galaxy, whose shape did not resemble any comets we had. never seen and missing an obvious tail. However, it accelerated its exit from the solar system, in the manner of a comet, thanks to the presence of ice and water heated to its pbadage in the sun.

Various researchers have suggested that it may have been a dead comet nucleus, a fragmented comet in a manner similar to the planet fragment explanation. mentioned above or just a comet-like thing … uh …

Not so strange after all

There have also been some suggestions that Oumuamua might not even be that stranger. Some of the most recent research explores the idea that it could have come from the confines of our own solar system. An article even went so far as to suggest that his strange behavior and trajectory could be explained as having been "scattered" by a "still unknown" planet in our solar system.

Yes, it is a reference to what is sometimes called Planet 9 or Planet. X, another often confusing and confusing concept that tends to make the Internet wild.

A follow – up article written by the famous astronomer Jason Wright of Penn State casts cold water on the idea that an invisible planet could have launched Oumuamua.

As long as it remains on its current trajectory, the mystery of the first interstellar overflight of humanity will remain. Well, unless Oumuamua suddenly makes a U-turn.

NASA is 60 years old: the space agency has pushed humanity further than anyone and plans to go farther.

Thrust to the extreme: mix crazy situations – – volcanoes erupt, nuclear collapses, waves of 30 feet – with the technology of every day. This is what happens.