When in October 2017, a team of astronomers discovered an unusual object, which they nicknamed C / 2017 U1Few thought that their exploration would give us so many surprises. But the truth is that Oumuamua and as he was baptized sometime later, he not only had a striking elongated shape, a reddish hue and a rocky composition. This strange object, observed for the first time by the telescope Pan-BRAIS 1 from Hawaii, this would become a headache for the researchers.

Oumuamua came from a place outside the borders of solar system, who made him the first interstellar traveler of history known to date. In addition, the scientific community first assured that it was a comet, although later it was decried by claiming that it was actually an asteroid . The difference is important because although both types of objects were created billions of years ago, their composition is slightly different.

A new study published today in the magazine Nature gives a new twist to the nature of 'Oumuamua. The team of researchers, led by Marco Micheli, of the European Space Agency (ESA), emphasizes that the cigar-shaped elongated body is in fact a Kite. Despite the fact that "Oumuamua does not seem to have the characteristic coma – a tail of gas and dust – of these objects while running through the solar system at full speed, the scientists say that this apparent lack does not rule out that it is a comet.

His observations have analyzed the arc on which he has traveled to Oumuamua in recent months, in which he has protected himself from our star with some kind of shield. Normally, the force of the gravitational pull of the Sun, planets and asteroids dominates the motions of celestial objects. However, according to the results published in Nature, part of the acceleration is of type Non-gravitational and this is due to the propulsion of the gas released by the object itself when it is moved. This movement coincides with the behavior of comets, so "Oumuamua it should not be considered as an asteroid.

His observations also dismissed the fact that the interstellar comet maintains a non-gravitational acceleration due to other factors, such as solar radiation pressure or magnetic interaction with the solar wind. The lack of dust observed, say the authors of the article, could be due to an atypical distribution of grains on its surface or to a different surface evolution during its course, among other causes. However, the team of scientists says that these aspects about the nature of 'Oumuamua they can not be conclusively resolved until observations are not made in situ, something that for the moment seems quite improbable.