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A mysterious space object that has baffled scientists since its discovery in 2017 is likely a spare part from a Pluto-like planet.
According to a new study published in two research articles in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, it is believed that the pancake-shaped space object nicknamed Oumuamua was a piece of a distant planet in another solar system. “Until now, we had no way of knowing if other solar systems had Pluto-like planets, but now we have seen a piece of a passage through Earth,” said Steven Desch, astrophysicist at Arizona State University authors of the new study.
Research indicates that Oumuamua is likely made up of solid nitrogen just like the surface of Pluto, which helps explain its unusual flat shape. “It was probably knocked down by an impact about half a billion years ago and thrown out of its parent system,” said Alan Jackson, Arizona State astronomer and planetologist and another of the study’s authors.
Oumuamua, Hawaiian for “messenger,” passed our sun in 2017 at 196,000 miles per hour. Scientists struggled to classify the object, which resembled a comet in some ways, but also had other very unusual characteristics.
Harvard University professor Avi Loeb had previously speculated that the space object might be something alien, although Desch rejected the speculation. “Everyone is interested in extraterrestrials, and it was inevitable that this first object outside the solar system would make you think of extraterrestrials,” he said.
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