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In November 2017, scientists sent NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to a site called Oumuamua. It is the first known interdisciplinary object visited by our solar system. Infrared Spitzer was one of many devices discovered after its discovery in October of the same year on telescopes led by OUMAMUA.
"Oumaamua" was full of secrets from the first day, so we can not wait to see what Spitzer could show, "said David Trilling, head of the new study group and professor of astronomy at the University of California. University of North Arizona.
"The fact that Oumuamua is too small to be detected by Spitzer is indeed a very valuable result," says Trilling.
Spitzer follows asteroids and comets using the infrared energy or heat they emit, thus providing more detailed information about the object's size than with light observations from the optically reflecting sun, writes sciencedaily.com.
The fact that Oumuamua is too rare to be detected by Spitzer determines the limits of the entire surface of the object. However, as the detection of the object can not be used to draw conclusions about its shape, the size limits are given according to the diameter of the Oumuamua it is d & # 39; A ball.
Three different models were chosen, with somewhat different badumptions about the structure of the object. The lack of identification of Spitzer has limited the spherical diameter "Oumuamua" to 440 meters, 140 meters and the smallest option – 100 meters. The broad spectrum of results comes from badumptions about the structure of Oumuamua, which determines how much Oumuamua will be visible (or too tightly captured) by the Spitzer if any of these sizes is present.
The new study also suggests that Oumuamua can be up to 10 times more reflective than comets in the solar system. According to the authors of the study, it is an amazing result. As infrared rays are mainly heat radiation generated by "hot" objects, they can be used to set the temperature of a comet or an asteroid.
It can also be used to define the surface reflection of objects (scientists call it albedia). Just as a dark shirt in the sun heats up faster than a shiny object, with such a low reflection, retains more heat than one with a high reflection. So, a lower temperature means a bigger albedo.
Albedo albedo may vary during its lifetime. As the sun approaches, the ice of the comet warms up and immediately turns into gas. It scrapes dust and dirt from the surface of the comet and reveals even more reflective ice.
Oumoamua has traveled millions of years across the inter-star space and was far from a star capable of renewing its surface. However, it is possible that its surface was refreshed during this process when, five weeks before its discovery, Oumuamua approached the Sun. The spilled gas not only wiped off dust and dirt, but also covered the surface with ice and snow, reflecting the surface of Ouduamua. Such a comet phenomenon could already be observed in the solar system.
Oumamuwa is already preparing to leave our solar system – he has already departed from the Sun and reached the orbit of Saturn. For this reason, they can no longer see any existing telescope.
"If the measurements of comets seem to me to be somewhat modified, we will usually come back to it until we finally see what we see," says Davide Farnocchia of NASA's Center of Near Earth Associate, co-author of this study. "But this object is already gone forever, probably nothing more about him and we will not know it," says Farnocchia.
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