Harvard scientists suggest that an interstellar object could be sent by extraterrestrials | New

"Oumuamua", the first interstellar object observed in the solar system, could be a probe sent by intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, according to an article published by the chairman of the Abraham Astronomy Department "Avi" Loeb and Shmuel Bialy, postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

"Oumuamua – which, according to Loeb, means" a visitor by far "in Hawaiian – was discovered for the first time in October 2017 by a telescope in Hawaii. Since then, it has come out of the reach of satellites and rockets, making it very difficult to study its composition and leaving its galactic origins a mystery.

The interstellar object is an anomaly for several reasons, said Loeb. After analyzing the reflected sunlight from his surface, Bialy and he concluded that the object is at least five to ten times longer than wide and potentially cigar-shaped or pancake-shaped, much longer than the typical asteroid.

But "the defining characteristic of Oumuamua – and the main reason scientists think this could be a probe from an extraterrestrial civilization – is the" extra push "in its trajectory, which propels it further than the "One of the possibilities is that 'Oumuamua is a comet because they too have an extra push, caused by the ice evaporating on their surface and creating an appearance similar to a single one," says Loeb. But Loeb said that the comet's hypothesis does not match Oumuamua's observations.

"In this case, we should have seen a cloud of dust or gas around, because when you look at the comets, you see a cometary tail," he said. "But there is no evidence for anything like that."

Instead, Loeb speculated that Oumuamua's unusual trajectory was due to the "radiation pressure" of the sun pushing it like a sail. For this to be the case, the object should have a thickness of less than one millimeter.

"Light sails – sails pushed by light – are now being considered in space exploration," he said.

Loeb currently chairs the Breakthrough Starshot initiative, which aims to create this type of technology for astronomy research. He and others are designing a light sail powered by a powerful laser that will be able to search for life in the Alpha Centauri star system. He suggested that "Oumuamua could be a similar effort from other civilizations.

"I admit that my imagination is limited to what I know, but it's true for everyone," Loeb said. "I was inspired by my involvement in this project."

Loeb is said to be surprised by the overwhelming interest of his diary, both from distinguished astronomers and the general public. He added that the document had been accepted for publication only a few days after it was sent, an unusually fast turnaround in the scientific community.

"I think the public is very interested in this topic and the scientists are very cautious," said Loeb. "For me, personally, it's a perfectly legitimate thing to consider because a quarter of all stars have habitable planets like the Earth that could have liquid water on the surface and the chemistry of life such as we know it.

Despite the puzzling characteristics of Oumuamua, Loeb hesitated to classify it definitively as an object of foreign origin.

"I prefer not to attribute probabilities to the nature of" Oumuamua, "he writes in an email." We just need to be practical and collect more data about him or about others. members of its population.The interpretation of existing and future data is my plan for the future. "

-A personal writer Amy L. Jia can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @AmyLJia.

– The personal writer Sanjana L. Narayanan can be reached at [email protected].