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The astronomers have just published a new study in which they suggest that the great asteroid called Oumuamua could be a solar sail sent by extraterrestrials looking for signs of life in distant civilizations.
According to Daily mailAstronomers at the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysics Center (CfA) have advanced the theory that what we consider a simple comet / asteroid can actually be "a luminous beacon of artificial origin."
The new study on Oumuamua was undertaken by Shmuel Bialy, postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Theory and Computation of the CfA, and by Professor Abraham Loeb, ITC Director and Professor of Science Frank B. Baird Jr. at Harvard University.
Bialy and Professor Loeb have suggested that the mysterious acceleration of the asteroid could come from solar radiation that propels the huge solar sail. This may not be as exaggerated as it may seem after they describe the fact that a sail of this type only needs a thickness of 0.3 to 0.9 mm to succeed in to clear a path across the galaxy without collapsing.
In their new research, they explain: "Considering an artificial origin, one of the possibilities is that Oumuamua is a veil of light, floating in interstellar space as a debris of advanced technological equipment. Alternatively, a more exotic scenario would be that Oumuamua is a fully operational probe, intentionally sent near Earth by an extraterrestrial civilization. "
Harvard scientists suggest a strange interstellar object Oumuamua could be an extraterrestrial solar sail https://t.co/wD0nn3tybP
– ScienceAlert (@ScienceAlert) November 2, 2018
However, one possibility that could explain why there is no communication with this solar sail, assuming for a moment that is what Oumuamua is, is that the object is now simply a "foreign shipwreck", sentenced to to spend an eternity without a crew.
As Professor Loeb notes, "Oumuamua could be the first known case of artificial relic that has floated in our solar system from interstellar space. This opportunity forms a potential basis for a new frontier of space archeology, namely the study of remnants of past civilizations in space. Finding evidence of artificial origin in space would provide an affirmative answer to the secular question "Are we alone?" This would have a dramatic impact on our culture and add a new cosmic perspective to the meaning of human activity. "
Professor Loeb then explained that Oumuamua was an extraterrestrial solar sail, explaining that it would be no different from our use of our own technology to explore the solar system.
"Oumuamua could be an active element of extraterrestrial technology coming to explore our solar system, just as we hope to explore Alpha Centauri with the help of Starshot and similar technologies. The alternative is to imagine that Oumuamua was on a reconnaissance mission. The reason I consider the possibility of recognition is that the hypothesis according to which Oumumua followed a random orbit requires the production of ~ 10 ^ {15} objects of this type per star in our galaxy. This abundance is up to a hundred million times greater than that expected from the solar system, according to a calculation we made in 2009. A surprisingly high glut, unless Oumuamua is a probe targeted at A reconnaissance mission and not a random member. population of objects. "
The new study that suggests that Oumuamua could be a solar sail created with the help of an extraterrestrial technology can be read on arXiv.
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